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Which spacecraft send data back to Earth?
Voyager 1
Voyager 1 is the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space. It originally was launched (along with Voyager 2) in 1977 to explore the outer planets in our solar system. However, it has remained operational long past expectations and continues to send information about its journeys back to Earth.
How can satellites transfer information back to Earth?
Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. The antennas then capture those signals and process the information coming from those signals.
How did we get pictures from space?
To ensure they capture a great shot, astronauts always keep eight cameras at the ready in the cupola of the space station, so someone can grab a camera and snap a picture when needed. When it comes to taking photos from the Hubble Space Telescope, the device features multiple cameras to take pictures of space.
How does Curiosity rover send data back to Earth?
Most often, Curiosity sends radio waves through its ultra-high frequency (UHF) antenna (about 400 Megahertz) to communicate with Earth through NASA’s Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiters. That allows them to send more data back to Earth at faster rates.
How does NASA send images from space?
The Short Answer: Spacecraft send information and pictures back to Earth using the Deep Space Network (DSN), a collection of big radio antennas. Spacecraft send information and pictures back to Earth using the Deep Space Network, or DSN. The DSN is a collection of big radio antennas in different parts of the world.
How does Mars rover send data to Earth?
Each rover has a high-gain microwave antenna that can transmit scientific data directly to Earth, but more often than not uses a low-gain UHF antenna to transmit the data to either Mars Odyssey or Mars Global Surveyor, spacecraft in orbit above Mars.
How is data sent to Earth from space?
As an instrument makes an observation, data is transferred to a solid-state recorder—similar to a flash memory card for a digital camera—where it’s compressed, reformatted, and transmitted to Earth through the spacecraft’s radio telecommunications system, a 2.1-meter high-gain antenna.
How does NASA’s Deep Space Network work?
The signal is so weak that large antenna dishes on Earth, part of NASA’s Deep Space Network, are required to receive the faint radio waves. “The encoded 1s and 0s that travel billions of miles are so small that the signal spreads, and it’s a whisper by the time it gets back to Earth,” DeBoy says.
Can we send pictures of Pluto back to Earth?
“Also, at the distance of Pluto, we can only send data back at a rate that’s comparable with an old 1990s modem. Because of that, during the encounter, we’ll be taking many, many pictures, but those pictures will all be stored on the solid state memory and radioed back to the Earth months after the encounter.”
How do spacecraft antennas work?
The antennas also receive details about where the spacecraft are and how they are doing. At the same time, NASA uses the DSN to send lists of instructions out to the spacecraft. An illustration of a spacecraft sending information to and receiving information from a DSN antenna.