The Sun could boost video streams from interstellar space probes
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Sending signals through vast distances in space can be difficult. Transmitting data across light years in space is a problem astrophysicist have been pondering. A solution to this problem could be to harness the sun’s gravity to boost signals.
Currently the furthest probe that astrophysicist have sent into space is Voyager 1. It is currently 18.8 billion kilometres from earth and its zipping along at 61,000 km/h. It was launched from earth about 40 years ago. However if space probes venture further from earth how can we communicate with them?
A recent article in the New Scientist Magazine – Sun’s gravity could boost video from deep space (New Scientist, 8 July, 2017) it has been disclosed that the sun’s gravity could amplify communications. The research, by the Independant astrophysicist Michael Hippke, posits that images could be sent between star systems.
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Using current technology very large receivers would be required to detect data signals:
‘Independent astrophysicist Michael Hippke found that to receive even a single-watt signal sent by a probe at Alpha Centauri, the nearest system to our own, an Earth-based instrument would need to be 53km across – that’s bigger than New York City.’ (New Scientist, 8 July, 2018)
However, Hippke has identified that if a telescope were placed about 90 billion km from the sun it would only have to be approximately 1 metre across and it could relay the images to Earth. Such a technique would utilise an effect called ‘gravitational lensing’ to optimise the signal.
The technique predicted by Einstein was first observed in 1919. As massive objects in our universe bend space and time, our sun would magnify the image of stars, light years from Earth – making them appear billions of times brighter.
Although Hippke has stated that small amounts of energy would be required to transmit signals – “a handheld laser pointer could do it” – the images from Alpha Centauri would still take four years to get hear.
Currently, probes we send into space are still nowhere near advanced enough to defy space and time and signals from interstellar space probes are also restricted by the laws of physics. However, should future generation wish to receive video footage from Alpha Centauri, they may utilise gravitational lensing, to view video streams, from our nearest star system.
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