The clip was uploaded to a spacecraft launched by SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on October the 13th while the video itself was streamed and downloaded successfully on December 11th. Ryan Rogalin an employee of JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in charge of overseeing the labs electronics said: "Despite transmitting from millions of miles away, it was able to send the video faster than most broadband internet connections".
The video of Taters was received by the Halo telescope at the Palomar observatory and then streamed to JPL in real time. This amazing achievement was conducted as part of the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) program which is looking at solutions for deep space communication reaching beyond the gulf between our planet and the moon faster than ever before.
DSOC is tasked with developing new technologies that can deliver content with higher bandwidth requirements from further away as radio frequencies currently employed struggle to handle the amount of data volume needed to transmit high quality videos and images.
Pam Melroy NASA's deputy administrator said: "This accomplishment underscores our commitment to advancing optical communications as a key element to meeting our future data transmission needs".
Taters is owned and loved by an employee of JPL and has received the distinct honour of being the fastest (downloaded) cat ever recorded! Well done Taters!
You can watch the full video of Taters below:
What do you think of this incredible achievement? Let us know below!
WRITTEN & EDITED BY Solace
IMAGES SOURCED FROM BBC.co.uk - Wikipedia.com
