A Skype Session From Mars

NASA's Deep Space Network will need an upgrade before colonists on the Red Planet can use it to phone home.

By Sarah Scoles
Oct 2, 2014 5:00 AMNov 19, 2019 10:55 PM
LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer) - NASA
NASA's LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer) probe used a laser system to communicate with Earth at high speed. (Credit: NASA/Goodard SPC/LLDC)

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The Curiosity rover’s selfies have gained a lot of fans on Earth, but their arrival depends entirely on the Deep Space Network (DSN), an overlooked and overworked collection of 50-year-old radio antennas installed in remote locations across the world.

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