December 20, 2023, 3:12 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
People love watching cats do funny things. When these moments are filmed and uploaded to the internet, millions enjoy the clips. It’s no surprise, then, that NASA chose a cat video for the first transmission of moving images from space.
Videos of cats doing amusing things are popular with many people and are clicked, shared, and liked millions of times. Apparently, the enthusiasm for cat videos has reached the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. For the very first time, NASA sent a cat video from space to Earth, making the protagonist named Taters one of the most famous cats in the world.
NASA Cat Video Reaches Earth Faster Than a 250Mb Connection
The U.S. space agency NASA has achieved something groundbreaking with this first transmission of a video from space–even in UHD quality. Unlike what we know from Earth, such as fiber optic or DSL connections, the transmission was carried out via laser beams. Using a special communication system, the cat video traveled 31 million kilometers to Earth, roughly 80 times the distance to the moon.
The 15-second video shows a cat filmed inside the NASA probe. The orange-and-white cat belonging to an employee fittingly chases the dot of a laser pointer on a sofa. This is typical play behavior for the animal, but now it enters the history of space exploration.
Entertaining Video as a Demo
The video was transmitted at 267 MB per second, even faster than a DSL-250 plan on Earth. It took only 101 seconds to send the video. But why do this at all?
In a press release from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Bill Klipstein, the project manager of the tech demo project, said: “To better commemorate this significant event, we created an entertaining video with the JPL designers that captures the essence of the demo as part of the Psyche mission.”
The video, in which Taters the cat plays with a laser pointer, was streamed over 31 million kilometers from space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“Everyone Loves Taters”
Despite the millions of kilometers of distance, the video was faster than most broadband internet connections, said Ryan Rogalin, head of receiver electronics for the project at JPL, in the press release. This fast form of communication is expected to be used primarily for manned missions to Mars in the future. It is considered an essential element for communication during such missions.
“After we received the video at Palomar, it was sent over the internet to JPL,” Ryan Rogalin added. This connection was slower than the signal from space. “The JPL DesignLab did a great job helping us showcase this technology–everyone loves Taters.”
But Taters wasn’t just captured playing in the historic video. Additional graphics were displayed, such as the probe’s orbit, technical information about the laser’s speed, and even Taters’ heart rate, color, and breed.
Also interesting: Why Cats Steal Our Seats
Rattlesnake Livestream – Wildlife Camera Changes Image of Unpopular Animals
Peta on animal rescue in Ukraine: “Russian drones shoot at everything that moves”
Cat Video Was Recorded Before NASA Probe Launch
The probe “Psyche,” used for the mission from which the video originates, is currently on its way to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is expected to arrive there in 2029 and land on the asteroid of the same name, 3.6 billion kilometers away, to collect data before returning to Earth.
However, Taters won’t have to endure a decade or longer in the probe. He is not in the probe but safely with his owner, an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The cat is likely unaware of the special significance of his laser pointer play.
Sources
- “CNN.com,” “NASA laser message beams video of a cat named Taters back to Earth, and it’s a big deal“ (accessed on Dec. 20, 2023)
- JPl.Nasa.gov, “NASA’s Tech Demo Streams First Video From Deep Space via Laser” (accessed on Dec. 20, 2023)