How NASA astronauts communicate with Earth from space

Photo Credit: NASA

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Find out how real space communication works.

Sending messages to and from space is tricky.

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NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) team handles space messages.

Space communication uses a transmitter and a receiver. One sends the message, the other receives and decodes it.

It’s a bit like your Wi-Fi at home- just much bigger. Messages travel through invisible waves.

NASA has antennas all over Earth. They pick up messages from space as spacecraft fly by.

NASA also uses relay satellites in space.

NASA sends data on special wave frequencies. Faster waves carry more data in less time.

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