02-14-2004, 09:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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I Want The Wireless Technology The Rovers Have
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4202901/
"NASA upgraded the bandwidth connection to its pokey twin Mars rovers, a boost that will allow scientists to send and receive data like pictures more quickly, a mission manager said Friday. The rate is now nearly five times the speed of home dial-up Internet connections."
These things are roughly 48,000,000 miles from here (73,000,000 km) and they are talking at ~265kpbs! 8O I can't get much better than 28kpbs with my GPRS connection. Forget cell phones. If NASA can do this with devices on Mars, I say turn the wireless technology on Earth over to them. They gave us Velcro, Teflon and pens that write upside down, they can give us ubiquitous fast wireless technology too!
I found the above image on a site about the wireless technology in the rovers, but I suspect it is a fake. Yes, it has the annoying bluetooth flashing light, but I just don't think bluetooth has the range. Although, the whole flash memory problem a few weeks ago with Spirit may have been a coverup. Maybe Spirit just wasn't bonding properly.
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02-14-2004, 09:13 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 830
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28k, lucky! nextel gives me 9.6k. Thats why wifi is so much fun.
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02-14-2004, 09:14 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 434
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"NASA released wireless technology for the PocketPC Platform. The CF Type III card is available on the NASA website.
Download size: 256kb
Prices: $2,000,000,000
__________________
James Kendrick* ...using mobile devices since they weighed 30 lbs
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02-14-2004, 09:18 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 830
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you forgot to mention tang. Nasa gave us tang. :mrgreen:
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02-14-2004, 09:43 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 476
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When he said the Rovers - I thought he meant that old Irish band - you know the one with all those drinkin' songs :lol:
"Wasn't that a party"
:lol: :lol:
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02-14-2004, 09:58 PM
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Swami
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,303
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Zippper
When he said the Rovers - I thought he meant that old Irish band -
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Nah - he's talking about the British car company. :wink:
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02-14-2004, 10:00 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 58
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Not to pick nits but...
Here's a little nitpick... the space pen was actually created by a private company. (Fisher, as you might have guessed by the name Fisher space pen). Nasa never contacted Fischer and asked them to create the pen, rather Paul Fisher, a big fan of the space program, developed the pen with his own money because he felt that wood pencils with easily broken graphite posed a safety hazard in space. The first 400 space pens were sold to NASA for like three bucks a piece, in the mid 60s, and Fisher never got directly reimbursed for the money he spent developing the pen, although I'd be willing to be that the commercial success of the pen eventually made up for the lost cash in the near 40 years it's been sold.
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02-14-2004, 10:01 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
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Sure they may be able to speak with the Rovers at that distance at 256kbs, but the power needed to transmit the distance must be astronomical.
BTW, I get 56kps on my T-Mobile GPRS service
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02-14-2004, 10:20 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 484
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Re: I Want The Wireless Technology The Rovers Have
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
These things are roughly 48,000,000 miles from here (73,000,000 km) and they are talking at ~265kpbs! 8O I can't get much better than 28kpbs with my GPRS connection. Forget cell phones. If NASA can do this with devices on Mars, I say turn the wireless technology on Earth over to them. They gave us Velcro, Teflon and pens that write upside down, they can give us ubiquitous fast wireless technology too!
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I know you were only joking about this Ed, but for those that believe that there is some amazing new wireless technology NASA is using...
The impressive bandwidth is certainly not ubiquitous, but rather it's highly directional. The Rovers are using very focused antenna and NASA is using huge dishes also focused on a fixed target. (Okay, so the rovers are moving around on another planet - which itself is moving around in the sky, but you get the idea.)
We already have consumer wireless WAN technology that can easily exceed what NASA is using in the form of EDGE and EvDO. The problem isn't one of technology, but rather one of cost. Just imagine what kind of speed Verizon or T-Mobile could offer you if they only had to support two customers per planet. :lol:
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02-14-2004, 10:26 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 476
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Re: I Want The Wireless Technology The Rovers Have
Quote:
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Originally Posted by daS
...Just imagine what kind of speed Verizon or T-Mobile could offer you if they only had to support two customers per planet. :lol:
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Per planet? Are Verizon and T-Mobile offering services on planets other than earth now?
:lol:
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