communication
Laser on NASA’s Psyche asteroid probe beams data from 140 million miles away
Late last year, NASA scientists pressed the start of a long-awaited space mission. In short, they launched a spacecraft towards an asteroid that could very well be made entirely of metal, a composition that appears to be a rarity – at least in the vicinity of our solar system. The robot adventurer is called Psyche … Read more
What information does the government actually collect as part of FISA?
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. Sign up for free to get it in your inbox here. A Republican split jeopardizes the expansion of a cornerstone of U.S. intelligence collection, through which the government collects vast amounts of Internet and cell phone data. The wealth of data now at risk … Read more
Millions of phones use GSM… What exactly does that mean?
If you’ve ever wondered how millions of cell phones around the world transmit voice, text, and other data in an organized and efficient manner, the answer has to do with Cell phone, meaning (or rather: stands for) global system for mobile communications. This cornerstone of modern communications underlies the way mobile phones work around the … Read more
Will we ever be able to communicate with aliens?
It’s called xenolinguistics: looking at the science of alien language. Biologists, anthropologists, linguists and other experts specializing in language and communication have begun to explore what non-human, alien language might look like. It is likely that such thinking gives rise to reflection on the fabricated Klingon languagethe cosmic ‘Klingonese’ babble spoken by one of the … Read more
NASA receives a laser message from 10 million miles away
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. An innovative experiment aboard NASA’s Psyche mission has just reached its first major milestone by successfully performing the most distant demonstration of laser communications. The tech demo could one day help NASA missions delve deeper … Read more