Busy Signals for Deep Space Experiments

lionchild writes "Just when you hated getting those 'Network Busy' signals on your Cell Phones..imagine what it's like to deal with communications in deep space after all these years of putting satellites and probes out there into the space lanes. Check the article out on space.com " The saddest part is the poor state that the deep space network of dishes is in, with some of the 70 meter antennae approaching their fifth decade with no repair funds on the horizon.

Comments

claimed fp

[Anonymous Cowrad]

for the CLIT

fuck j00, ac scum.

cmu students are trying to fix it

[Anonymous Coward]

Ya some grad students are working onthis system to solve this problem. Might just be a ploy to get VC money, but who knows, it might work.

There's no problem with busy signals

[PhysicsGenius]

There won't be enough traffic to worry about. Communication with deep space probes isn't possible once you pass the Solar System light horizon. Let me explain:

Einstein showed nearly a century ago that spacetime is bent back on itself in the presence of gravitational force. For an object the size of a planet the effect is minor (except for the inhabitants, ha ha) but even something as relatively puny as our sun can deflect a beam of light measurably.

The point of this is that a signal will only propagate outwards until the total mass behind it exceeds a critical value. At that point its deflection will equal more than 90 degrees...i.e. it will not go any farther from its point of origin.

This means that any communication has to remain within this boundary. It seems like a big volume, but think about how few items there are to visit and you'll see why we won't need enough probes that busy signals will ever been an issue.

Tired of hearing busy signals?

[konichiwa]

Customer: All I get is busy signals. I can't check my email!

Tech: Ahhh I see you're a vulcan. Sorry, AOL-Space doesn't serve vulcans. Clip your ears, kid!

Astronaut Pr0n

[dryguy]

093:31:32 Parker: Apollo 15, Houston. (Long pause)

093:32:06 Irwin: Houston, 15.

093:32:07 Parker: Good morning, Jim. We're waking up you a little early to tell you a few things before you go around the corner because you only have four minutes in the old Flight Plan. So, if you guys are awake and ready to listen, I'll give you a few words.

093:32:23 Irwin: Okay, Bob. Go ahead.

093:32:25 Parker: Okay. At the moment - Okay, one short one. We'd like you to go High Gain Antenna to Auto so we don't lose you just before you go around the corner there. Okay...

093:32:49 Irwin: We're in Auto.

093:32:50 Parker: Jim - we seem to have atransmission problem on the High Gain Antenna - we want you to perform a systems check on your end...

093:32:55 (Sound of Irwin smacking co-pilot who is busy downloading the latests pics of Britney Spears fakes) Houston, I think we have isolated the problem, we are now clear for transmission...