View full video<\/a><\/h3>\n\nNote that the audio quality is variable and sometimes difficult to understand, particularly from the\u00a0Alvin<\/em>\u00a0submersible.\u00a0 That’s science and technology at work, with all of it’s fits and starts and lurches forward. This was a first-time call, and we knew we would have something to learn from the communications links.<\/p>\nOne lesson we are already learning is that it may be harder to send sound signals through 2 miles of water than it is to send radio waves through 220 miles of air. It is sometimes easier to keep in touch with a satellite or spaceship than it is to reach a ship at sea, no less a submarine.<\/p>\n
There were four links in the virtual chain from Suni to Tim: 1) space station to Houston’s Johnson Space Flight Center (by radio\/satellite signals); 2) from Houston to the Iridium satellite; 3) from that telecommunications satellite to the research vessel\u00a0Atlantis<\/em>; and 4) from\u00a0Atlantis<\/em>\u00a0to\u00a0Alvin<\/em>\u00a0(acoustic signals to an underwater phone).\u00a0 The challenge will be figuring out which link is weakest.<\/p>\nThe conversation between Tim and Suni was initially broadcast on\u00a0NASA TV<\/a>\u00a0and through the World Wide Web on January 26.\u00a0 Check the NASA schedule for possible re-broadcasts or other uses of the conversation.\u00a0NASA TV can be found at channel 376 on\u00a0Direct TV\u00a0and channel 213 on the\u00a0Dish Network. It is also carried by most cable television operators, so please check your local listings.<\/p>\nIf you have your own\u00a0satellite dish, NASA Television is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast (DVB)-compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) with modulation of QPSK\/DBV, data rate of 36.86 and FEC 3\/4 is needed for reception.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t![\"Atlantis\"](\"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2019\/07\/atlantis_antenna_550_37290.jpg\" "\\"atlantis_antenna_550_37290\\"")
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t(Photo by John Dyke, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch the broadcast Recordings of the conversation between Tim Shank and Suni Williams (about 20 minutes long) have been posted here on the WHOI web.\u00a0 Please choose your preferred viewer from the links\u00a0 below to watch the video online. View video View full video Note that the audio quality is variable and sometimes difficult to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/643"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/643\/revisions\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
One lesson we are already learning is that it may be harder to send sound signals through 2 miles of water than it is to send radio waves through 220 miles of air. It is sometimes easier to keep in touch with a satellite or spaceship than it is to reach a ship at sea, no less a submarine.<\/p>\n
There were four links in the virtual chain from Suni to Tim: 1) space station to Houston’s Johnson Space Flight Center (by radio\/satellite signals); 2) from Houston to the Iridium satellite; 3) from that telecommunications satellite to the research vessel\u00a0Atlantis<\/em>; and 4) from\u00a0Atlantis<\/em>\u00a0to\u00a0Alvin<\/em>\u00a0(acoustic signals to an underwater phone).\u00a0 The challenge will be figuring out which link is weakest.<\/p>\n The conversation between Tim and Suni was initially broadcast on\u00a0NASA TV<\/a>\u00a0and through the World Wide Web on January 26.\u00a0 Check the NASA schedule for possible re-broadcasts or other uses of the conversation.\u00a0NASA TV can be found at channel 376 on\u00a0Direct TV\u00a0and channel 213 on the\u00a0Dish Network. It is also carried by most cable television operators, so please check your local listings.<\/p>\n If you have your own\u00a0satellite dish, NASA Television is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast (DVB)-compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) with modulation of QPSK\/DBV, data rate of 36.86 and FEC 3\/4 is needed for reception.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Watch the broadcast Recordings of the conversation between Tim Shank and Suni Williams (about 20 minutes long) have been posted here on the WHOI web.\u00a0 Please choose your preferred viewer from the links\u00a0 below to watch the video online. View video View full video Note that the audio quality is variable and sometimes difficult to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/643"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/643\/revisions\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/site\/seafloortospacestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t(Photo by John Dyke, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"