Cat Steals the Show in Video Sent by Laser from Space
2023-12-21
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1The U.S. space agency says an orange cat named Taters is the star of the first video sent by laser from deep space.
2NASA's Psyche spacecraft sent the 15-second video to Earth from 30 million kilometers in space.
3The video shows Taters as he chases a red laser light.
4It took less than two minutes for the video to reach Caltech's Palomar Observatory.
5The video quality is called ultra high-definition.
6It was sent at the test system's maximum rate of 267 megabits per second.
7NASA loaded the video into Psyche's laser communication experiment before launching the spacecraft to visit a rare metal asteroid in October.
8The mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, decided to use an employee's three-year-old cat.
9The video was sent to Earth on December 11 and was released by NASA this week.
10The test sent the video faster than most internet connections here on Earth, said project leader Ryan Rogalin.
11NASA wants to improve communications from deep space as it prepares efforts to send astronauts to the moon and possibly to the planet Mars.
12The laser test is meant to send data at rates up to 100 times greater than the radio systems currently used by spacecraft far from Earth.
13More tests are planned as Psyche heads towards the main area of asteroids between the planets Mars and Jupiter.
14But Taters will not be making anymore appearances, JPL said.
15Joby Harris is an art director in JPL's DesignLab.
16He could not be any happier, but he does not want his cat's new public attention to go to his head.
17"I'm celebrating his spotlight with him but making sure he keeps his paws on the carpet," Harris said in an email Tuesday.
18I'm Jill Robbins.
1The U.S. space agency says an orange cat named Taters is the star of the first video sent by laser from deep space. 2NASA's Psyche spacecraft sent the 15-second video to Earth from 30 million kilometers in space. The video shows Taters as he chases a red laser light. 3It took less than two minutes for the video to reach Caltech's Palomar Observatory. The video quality is called ultra high-definition. It was sent at the test system's maximum rate of 267 megabits per second. 4NASA loaded the video into Psyche's laser communication experiment before launching the spacecraft to visit a rare metal asteroid in October. The mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, decided to use an employee's three-year-old cat. 5The video was sent to Earth on December 11 and was released by NASA this week. The test sent the video faster than most internet connections here on Earth, said project leader Ryan Rogalin. 6NASA wants to improve communications from deep space as it prepares efforts to send astronauts to the moon and possibly to the planet Mars. The laser test is meant to send data at rates up to 100 times greater than the radio systems currently used by spacecraft far from Earth. 7More tests are planned as Psyche heads towards the main area of asteroids between the planets Mars and Jupiter. But Taters will not be making anymore appearances, JPL said. 8Joby Harris is an art director in JPL's DesignLab. He could not be any happier, but he does not want his cat's new public attention to go to his head. 9"I'm celebrating his spotlight with him but making sure he keeps his paws on the carpet," Harris said in an email Tuesday. 10I'm Jill Robbins. 11Marcia Dunn reported this story for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. 12________________________________________________ 13Words in This Story 14ultra - prefix extremely great or large 15megabit - n. one million units of computer information represented as either 1 or 0 16asteroid - n. any one of thousands of small planets that circle around the sun 17to go to his head - idiom to let something you have done cause you to think of yourself as more important than you are 18spotlight - n. public attention or notice 19paw - n. the foot of an animal that has claws 20carpet - n. a heavy fabric cover for a floor