NASA

The technologies that allow NASA to talk to and navigate spacecraft are often overlooked — perhaps because they work so well. Join us as we shine a light on the invisible networks that power space science and exploration.

The Invisible Network: Space Communications

invisible network

LCRD 📡🛰

Today, Tuesday, December 7, 2021, the U.S. Space Force’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 launched from Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s space coast. The spacecraft contains a revolutionary space communications mission, NASA's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, or LCRD.

The Invisible Network: LCRD: The Launch

In this second episode in the fifth season of NASA's "The Invisible Network" podcast, we take a tour of the Deep Space Network's worldwide infrastructure.

The Invisible Network: DSN – Follow the Sun

In this third episode in the fifth season of NASA's "The Invisible Network" podcast, we meet the Mission Interface Managers who furnish missions with Deep Space Network services.

The Invisible Network: DSN – Negotiators

In this fourth episode in the fifth season of NASA's "The Invisible Network" podcast, we discuss the unique type of radio science empowered by Deep Space Network antennas.

The Invisible Network: DSN – Radio Science

In this fifth episode in the fifth season of NASA's "The Invisible Network" podcast, we discuss a unique educational opportunity that allows students to use a Deep Space Network antenna for real science.

The Invisible Network: DSN – The Ultimate Classroom

In this final episode of the fifth season of NASA's "The Invisible Network" podcast, we discuss the technologies and capabilities key to the Deep Space Network's future.

The Invisible Network: DSN – Explore Tomorrow

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Sputnik: Beep

The Voyager 1 spacecraft has experienced three "tsunami waves" in interstellar space. Listen to how these waves cause surrounding ionized matter to ring. More details on this sound can be found here: http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/nasa-voyager-tsunami-wave-still-flies-through-interstellar-space/

Voyager 1: Three "Tsunami Waves" in Interstellar Space

Soyuz launch VS-11 recorded at 5km (3 miles) from the viewing site "Colibri", French Guiana

Soyuz VS11

Ever wonder how the International Space Station alarms sounds? This emergency alert is the last thing astronauts on the ISS ever want to hear as they work 400 km above Earth in the vacuum of space.   
 
This sound was sent to us by the Columbus Control Centre, near München, Germany, the operations centre for ESA astronauts and the Columbus laboratory, part of the orbiting weightless research centre.

The alarm is sounded on the International Space Station to alert astronauts to life-threatening emergencies such as loss of pressure or fire. The astronauts would immediately convene near their Soyuz spacecraft that serve as lifeboats, but these kind of emergencies are extremely rare and the alarm has sounded only a handful of times despite the Space Station having been inhabited since 2000. 

Most astronauts on a six-month space flight will only ever hear the sound during a practice session.

Regular 'fire-drills' are performed to make sure that even in a worst-case scenario everybody knows what to do. Mission controllers from the international partners that run the Space Station in Russia, USA, Europe and Japan re-enact scenarios with the astronauts in space. In critical situations the teams on ground need to communicate efficiently, act quickly and coordinate a solution between each other and the astronauts flying 400 km above them.

Image credit: ESA/NASA

Audio credit: ESA, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 
http://www.esa.int/Services/Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_IGO_CC_BY-SA_3.0_IGO_Licence

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/

International Space Station siren

Juno will improve our understanding of the solar system's beginnings by revealing the origin and evolution of Jupiter.

Juno: Entering Jupiter's Magnetosphere

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Episode 37 features Dr. Tina Holden, Human Factors Technical Fellow with Leidos, who talks about the challenges that astronauts may face when interacting with computers. Holden discusses some of the research that has been done on the space station to investigate these issues. This episode was recorded on February 27, 2018.

Houston We Have a Podcast: Human vs. Machine

In the telephone switchboard’s earliest days, the late 1800s, operators served a limited number of customers within their own communities. As telephone use expanded, automation helped switchboards keep up. NASA is working on a similar approach, infusing its satellite networks with a sort of artificial intelligence.

https://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/goddard/2018/the-invisible-network-podcast-episode-04-automation

The Invisible Network: Episode 04 - Automation

Whether you're relying on the careful observations of 1950s amateur astronomers and backyard telescopes or state-of-the-art GPS tracking and navigation technology: knowing where you are in space means needing to know what time it is.

https://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/goddard/2018/the-invisible-network-podcast-episode-03-time

The Invisible Network: Episode 03 - Time

The mythic hunter Orion, son of the sea-god Poseidon, was himself mortal, but his godly lineage enabled impossible heroic feats, earning him a place in the night sky as a constellation. NASA has developed its own Orion, a hunter for knowledge not of this Earth: a spacecraft designed for humanity’s return to the Moon and exploration of deep space.

https://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/goddard/2018/the-invisible-network-podcast-episode-02-lemnos

The Invisible Network: Episode 02 - Lemnos

Just south of the equator lies a tiny plot of volcanic soil, a thousand miles from the nearest continent. This bizarre, remote island had mammoth importance to America’s first efforts in space.

https://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/goddard/2018/the-invisible-network-podcast-episode-01-ascension

The Invisible Network: Episode 01 - Ascension

We sit on the precipice of a golden age in space exploration. A renaissance of space science and technology. Every day, NASA sends trillions upon trillions of bits of data to Earth, unraveling long-held mysteries about the universe, our solar system, and even our own planet. But what makes it all possible? 

NASA presents "The Invisible Network," a podcast giving you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the feats of engineering that make possible humanity's ambitions among the stars.

The Invisible Network: Episode 00 - Teaser Trailer

Hello, we’re NASA. You may have seen our astronauts, rocket launches, or Mars rovers — but have you heard our sounds? From interviews with astronauts and engineers to stories that take you on a tour of the galaxy, NASA’s audio offerings let you experience the thrill of space exploration without ever leaving Earth.