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Netstat -vat by Sean Michael Kerner (bio)

A command line view of IT



From the Moon to the Earth at 100 Mbps

By Sean Michael Kerner on August 20, 2009 10:33 AM
nasa_small1.jpgFrom the 'Better Than Sci-Fi' Files:

NASA now has technology in place, for data transfer from the Earth to the Moon at an astounding 100 Mbps.

That's right, NASA has more bandwidth on the (literally) long haul between the Moon and the Earth than most Americans between their ISP's and their homes.

NASA has deployed a new type of transmitter on its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) which is now orbiting the Moon. In an article on NASA.gov this week, NASA explained how the new technology works.

The 100 Mbps transmission is delivered from the Moon orbiting LRO by way of a 12-inch tube, called the Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier. NASA explained that the device uses electrodes in a vacuum tube to amplify microwave signals to high power. NASA noted that the LRO is able to transmit a whopping 461 gigabytes of data per day.

It will be interesting to see how this technology ends up on Earth (cause it will). I suspect that it could be used for a new type of long-haul wireless delivery around the Earth. It could also be used to boost data delivery rates on Earth orbiting satellites, for content delivery (Internet and more HD channels!).

100 Mbps long-haul wireless isn't the only networking tech innovation coming out of NASA recently. Last year, I wrote about NASA's work with a new networking stack Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN). DTN uses a different kind of approach than TCP/IP for packet delivery that is less cumbersome and more resilient to disruption than TCP/IP.

So if you combine a Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier with DTN, it's easy to see the beginning of space based networking. There is still however one fundamental limitation that NASA has not yet solved, namely the speed of light.

The Moon is still relatively close to the Earth, but with NASA probes out at the edge of the Solar System, speed of light issues mean that real time communication (currently) is not possible.

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1 Comments

Graham said:

Traveling Wave Tubes are hardly new technology!
Just check out Wikipedia, which attributes the original TWT design to 'Rudolph Kompfner in 1942-1943'.
Neither is the use of TWTs in satellites, the same Wikipedia article lists 'Satellite Transponders' first of the two common uses of TWTs cited.
LRO may be the first use of TWTs in moon orbit, thus achieving greater transmitter power and allowing greater data rates, but I would say that DTN is the major contributor to the improved throughput.

August 21, 2009 4:13 AM

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