ISS, also known as the International Space Station is the largest man-made structure in outer space. It was built in segments, launched in space, and assembled in orbit. It is mainly used to conduct science experiments that can only be done in space. The station always has at least six astronauts boarded. It generally switches around every six months so that no one has to spend all of their time in space. The station is about the size of an American football field. Let’s learn ‘Does the ISS Have Wi-Fi?’.
It was constructed with an alliance with the United States, Canada, Russia, Japan, and many European countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy. The most asked question about the International space station is, does it have Wi-Fi? Do astronauts use the internet? How do astronauts use it? Here are the answers to all of your questions.
Does The ISS Have Wi-Fi?
Yes, the International Space Station that is ISS has the facility of Wi-Fi connection. The speed of this Wi-Fi is very high but not for the use of astronauts. This Wi-Fi connection is used to transfer data from the spaceship to other satellites and Earth at NASA itself. The latency is very high if an astronaut is using this Wi-Fi connection for his/her general-purpose because the Wi-Fi is constantly in use to connect with other satellites and NASA.
How does the Wi-Fi at ISS work?
The procedure of accessing the Wi-Fi at the International Space Station is your home long process. if an astronaut has requested to surf the internet from ISS then it will go through the steps mentioned below:-
- The first fall the request that had been made by the astronaut will travel from the device of him or her to the onboard LAN server to the KU band Antenna.
- As a next step, a request will be sent to the TDRS satellite that is placed about 22,000 miles above the International Space Station. The satellite is responsible for making space interactions with the Earth.
- After that, the signal reaches down to the Earth at White Sands, New Mexico.
- This dish transfers the signal to the annihilation network of the mission control center at Johnson SpaCenterter in Houston.
- Here the request is transferred to a PC that is connected to the internet and the request proceeds to happen.
- After the request is successfully made then the results are sent back in the same way.
How Fast Is Wi-Fi on the ISS?
The Wi-Fi speed capability of the International space station is 10 MBPS download and 3 MBPS upload. However, the majority of that is set aside for NASA to utilize as a private network. Everything from essential data monitoring to giving life-like pictures of the planet Earth below. NASA does have access to the internet, but it is available at a very poor speed.
The reading speed is still less than one megabit per second slower than dial-up speeds. The internet is relatively expensive to provide in space, so NASA and the International Space Station are not focusing on day-to-day browsing. The astronauts have a specific duty and role for which they were deployed to the International Space Station. They were not sent to the space station to browse the internet.
Does NASA Know What Astronauts Search At ISS With Wi-Fi?
NASA has access to know everything that the astronauts search about through the Wi-Fi in the International Space Station. It is because the request for searching the ISS is sent through different satellite antennas and then to the PC on the earth, resulting in the outcomes in the same way. From 1 device to another device the privacy of the search and request get lost. Through this NASA has all the access to know about the things that astronauts search about and do with the help of Wi-Fi in the International Space Station.
How Is The Wi-Fi At ISS Different From The One On The Earth?
The Wi-Fi connectivity on the earth is vastly different from the connectivity of Wi-Fi at the International Space Station. The internet on Earth travels around the world with the help of fiber optic cable and allows her huge amount of data to be moved around at a very fast speed without any hassles. On the other hand, the Wi-Fi connectivity and the International Space Station are mostly utilized for NASA. The Wi-Fi at the International Space Station is used to transfer all the important details to earth from the spaceship and other satellites due to which the speed slows down and the latency increases. This is the reason that makes the Wi-Fi connectivity of the International Space Station different from the one on the Earth.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, Yes, the ISS does have Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi connectivity at the International Space Station is very slow compared to the connection on the Earth. The reason behind this is, there are multiple uses of the Internet up there in space. NASA uses the internet for other purposes such as capturing and sending live streams of the planets, galaxies, and much more.
FAQs
- Does the ISS have a TV?
Yes, the ISS has a TV for the astronauts to watch shows.
- Do astronauts have phones at ISS?
Astronauts do have internet protocol phones through which we can make calls.
- Can you watch Netflix in space?
Yes, the astronaut has access to watch Netflix in space.
