4

In Interstellar, they have shown that the astronauts Mann, Miller and Edmunds were sending signals to NASA (Earth) through their beacons.

Also NASA is able to send videos recorded on earth to Cooper and his team while they are in all together a different galaxy!

I want to know whether this is possible and how? How can you send data (heartbeats through beacons and videos) to and from earth and planets of unknown galaxies?

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    In the movie supposedly through the wormhole, which was a direct connection. But if that is true to the physics of real wormholes (wut?) I don't know either.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Nov 18, 2014 at 12:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
8

They were sending the data through the wormhole orbiting Saturn. It was mentioned there were satellites on both sides of the wormhole to enable the communication. The signal would be delayed approximately 1.4 hours because of the distance to Saturn and possibly more because of distances on the other side. So the direct radio/video chat would be impossible.

Improve this answer
9
  • Was this mentioned in the movie!! Strange that i missed it even after watching it twice!
    – DarkKnightFan
    Nov 18, 2014 at 15:44
  • I believe they also said they kept the signal very basic, using only binary to send data back and forth because it's small, which aids in transmission speed, and has a lower chance of being corrupted or degraded.
    – MattD
    Nov 18, 2014 at 15:47
  • 1
    @DarkKnightFan I'm not 100% sure it was mentioned. I will have to watch it again. But from point of view of physics, it is probably the only way how to do it.
    – Irigi
    Nov 18, 2014 at 16:10
  • 1
    @DarkKnightFan, Yes it was mentioned.
    – bobbyalex
    Nov 19, 2014 at 2:50
  • 1
    @BobbyAlexander Data transmission can occur as a binary signal, or an analog signal. With everything being digital nowadays it's easy to forget that even as recently as a few years ago, broadcast TV signals were all analog. Remember the DTV switch? The point is that binary data with simple bits of information, enough to get a message across, is far more reliable than trying to send back images and video, and takes far less time, which is something they were running out of.
    – MattD
    Nov 19, 2014 at 3:34

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .