|
Friday August 21, 2009
|
Hold onto your hard drive: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been sending 461 gigabytes of images and other data back home every day, according to Slashdot. Interestingly, it's using a 100 Mbps data pipe--specifically, a K-band transmitter called the Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier.
It's a 13-inch long tube that uses electrodes in a vacuum tube to amplify microwave signals, the report said. L-3 Communications Electron Technologies and NASA's Glenn Research Center built the device in tandem. 100 Mbps doesn't sound all that impressive on paper, since wired Ethernet has had that for years--until you release the data is traveling almost 240,000 miles. Suddenly FiOS doesn't seem all that fast.
(Want the latest LRO news and images? Head over to NASA's dedicated landing page for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.)
|
|
|
Mixx It
Digg It
Stumble
More...
August 23, 2009 11:57 AM
Why is it that we know more about the moon,and space
then we do about our oceans?
Life comes from our seas. We should study our oceans
and prepair defence systems to fire toward space if
we have to.
J.D.W.