Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
1–10 of 27 posts
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#2A wild idea I had never even thought of, X-rays are of high enough frequncy that they can penetrate the plasmasheath of high velocity vehicles. Seemingly this is for hypersonic transport, and rentry vehicles, my mind is quite boggled.
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#3As ever Scott Manley made me do it:
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#4A wild idea I had never even thought of, X-rays are of high enough frequncy that they can penetrate the plasmasheath of high velocity vehicles. Seemingly this is for hypersonic transport, and rentry vehicles, my mind is quite boggled.
What is the mechanism by which a plasmasheath blocks radiowaves, and why would x-rays be an exception?
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#5Are there any health concerns about using X-ray constantly for communications? For example, should astronauts performing EVAs take care to avoid the area around the antenna? Or is there enough ionizing radiation in space already that adding some X-ray in the mix won't make any difference?
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#6A wild idea I had never even thought of, X-rays are of high enough frequncy that they can penetrate the plasmasheath of high velocity vehicles. Seemingly this is for hypersonic transport, and rentry vehicles, my mind is quite boggled.
What is the mechanism by which a plasmasheath blocks radiowaves, and why would x-rays be an exception?
https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_does_the_plasma_sheath...
> an electromagnetic wave can penetrate the plasma if the wave frequency f is higher than the electron plasma frequency.
X-rays have a much higher frequency (i.e. much higher energy) than the radio waves we normally use for communications, so it can punch through the noise of charged particles that makes up plasma.
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#7Are there any health concerns about using X-ray constantly for communications? For example, should astronauts performing EVAs take care to avoid the area around the antenna? Or is there enough ionizing radiation in space already that adding some X-ray in the mix won't make any difference?
It depends on the dose, probably not really a thing to be concerned about.
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#8> XCOM
I love it (For those not aware, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCOM:_Enemy_Unknown)
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#9Will be interesting to see what they use for a receiving antenna. 90 dBi gain is about the limit for single aperture reflector antennas at RF, as you contended with structure deformation at low frequencies, then surface roughness at high frequencies, not to mention tracking a fast moving object with that precision to keep it in the beam width.
At X-rays, I don’t know how you would focus it as the roughness is in on a molecular scale. So going to higher frequencies has its limits.
I don’t know what the equivalent gain of these large, optical telescopes are, but they seem to suffer from the same problems.
The plasma penetration must the the real objective. You can get thru the plasma with standard RF, it just takes lots more power, or lower data rate, but a low reset beacon is feasible, just not voice comms.
Re: Nasa Set to Demonstrate X-Ray Communications in Space
#10> XCOM I love it (For those not aware, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCOM:_Enemy_Unknown )