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NASA Probe Blasts 461 Gigabytes of Moon Data Daily
coondoggie writes "On its current space scouting mission, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is using a pumped up communications device to deliver 461 gigabytes of data and images per day, at a rate of up to 100 Mbps.
As the first high data rate K-band transmitter to fly on a NASA spacecraft, the 13-inch-long tube, called a Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier, is making it possible for NASA scientists to receive massive amounts of images and data about the moon's surface and environment.
The amplifier was built by L-3 Communications Electron Technologies in conjunction with NASA's Glenn Research Center. The device uses electrodes in a vacuum tube to amplify microwave signals to high power. It's ideal for sending large amounts of data over a long distance because it provides more power and more efficiency than its alternative, the transistor amplifier, NASA stated." It kills me that the moon has better bandwidth than my house.
Their Cingular bill is going to suck.
But can it learn to love?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I'm sure you can still beat the moon in latency.
Traveling Wave Tubes have been a mainstay of microwave communications and radar systems for the better part of a century. They're a very efficient way of amplifying microwave signals to the very high power levels needed to cross long distances.
Anybody else think it's funny that in this case, a vacuum tube is a step up from a transistor?
Did they even bother to seal the tube, or are they using the vacuum of space?
You just KNOW that the original name for the device was "Traveling Wave Amplified Tube" until some NASA jackass noticed the acronym and ruined it for everyone.
Or would you like your internet connection to be served by a SUV carrying hard drives?
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a fedex truck packed with 250 lbs of hard disks!
Depending on the file size of what you would be downloading and with what technology, overnight shipping might STILL be better latency too!
That much data and Comcast would throttle it no matter what the scientists said. If AT&T had it going through their "unlimited" 3G connection, NASA would be hosed and we would be increasing the national debt by trillions.
One last thing, I m wondering if the **AA doesn't want access to the data stream to make sure it isn't a bittorrent containing their precious copyrighted work. After all, we all know there is no legitimate use for that much bandwidth.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Tomorrow's headline: "RIAA Lobbies Congress to Shut Down NASA"
-William Brendel
Vacuum tubes have always had higher frequency limits than transistors, since WWII in fact. Take a look at THz radiation sources, all tubes. No tranny is going to touch that for a while. And then tubes will have gotten better too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backward_wave_oscillator
Tubes just have more geometric freedoms to create bizarre fields and strange structures to do whatever you need.
I have never before heard a serious conversation pitting the respective benefits of trannys vs. tubes in this context...
...and asks for astronomical damages to be paid?
Ezekiel 23:20
curious thing about tubes, they don't become useful until they're sealed in vacuum, and boiled out in a high RF magnetic field to take impurities off the elements. and then you have to flash the last of the gases off by igniting a getter inside the envelope.
that provides a higher vacuum on earth, inside the tube, than you can ever develop in space. and the electrons can do their work, instead of hitting stuff and just making a useless glow.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?