Is Thomas Pesket himself sending his Twitter messages from space?

It is difficult to dream of a great panorama to observe the beauty of the earth from all angles. From the International Space Station, Thomas Baskett admires our planet every day, ISS. His Twitter account, now followed by more than a million internet users, allows us to live this long journey through a proxy without being weightless. During his first spaceflight, many photographs were taken from the station, which we rarely see on Earth.

Between the two tweets, can Thomas Basket browse the web and play Candy Crush online? In space, there is no relay antenna, so in theory it is unlikely to benefit from a traditional Internet connection. If the astronaut is actually the source of various messages published in his name, it is actually a ground team of the European Space Agency (ESA) that is responsible for clicking the “Send” button.

Is there internet access from ISS? Strange … yes! It has, since 2010, passed information through a complex system that uses satellites and ground relays. NASA is a small technological breakthrough, and allows Thomas Baskett and his allies to “browse” from space. Interestingly, especially when we keep in mind the fact that the station moves at lightning speed at 28,000 km / h in the orbit of the earth.

Does that mean the French astronaut is posting his tweets? No. What’s recent To explain In ESA Release : “He sends us texts and pictures, we design them, we translate them if necessary, we send them back for verification, and then we take care of putting it online in his networks, off the earth.”. Transactions between the agency responsible for communications and Thomas Pesket are carried out by emails. These allow you to exchange ideas, review retained messages, and make various suggestions.

On the ESA side, we assure you that nothing is released without the astronaut’s approval and that this system aims to save time above all else. In fact, it is invaluable in space and is primarily dedicated to scientific work. If it is necessary to communicate with the general public to create awareness about the challenges of travelers, it should not take time. Between re-reading messages, programming them over time, and handling different loading and sending times, it is desirable that Thomas Baskett has earthly support.

In their spare time, astronauts have personal access to the Internet, which is capable of working if not too fast. What to look out for in the rare moments of free time in space. Communication systems are advancing year by year, however, NASA and ESA are trying to upgrade existing technology devices. The challenge is of course not to watch cat videos in 4K from space, but rather to ensure the speed and reliability of the connections, serving as part of the ISS transmitting information and data collected on Earth to collect on Earth. Various research projects.

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