Communication Systems
| Communication Systems |  |
| "Take the obvious, add a cupful of brains,
a generous pinch of imagination, a bucketful of courage
and daring, stir well and bring to a boil." -Bernard Baruch |
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Here on Earth we use a variety of communication systems. How many different systems can you think of? Make a list of all the ways people communicate with each other here on Earth.
For a colony on Mars, people will need to communicate with each other and communicate with families, friends, and associates back on Earth. The difficulties in sending and receiving messages from Mars to Earth (and vice versa) have to do with the large distance between the planets. There will be no real-time communication as we know it. It takes between 5 and 20 minutes to send messages (at the speed of light, or 186,000 miles per second) depending on where the two planets are in their orbits. A reliable communications system (.pdf) for planetary exploration will need to be designed.
An artist's concept of a Mars communications network. |
Think back to our analogy of the frontier towns. How was communication handled in the 1800s? People sent messages using people, by Pony Express, or by hand courier. After the telegraph and telephone were invented, then the radio and television, and finally computers and satellite systems for cellular phones, our methods of communications changed radically. We now rely on machines where we once relied on human power. What new innovation might revolutionize the communications system of tomorrow? |
What about timekeeping on Mars? When humans begin colonizing Mars, they will also leave behind their familiar 24-hour day and the 365-day year. These are cycles that are specific to Earth, and we are designed to operate by them. However, these Earthly cycles will have no physical meaning on Mars. Here is a an article by Michael Allison from the Goddard Institute on Space Studies on "Telling Time on Mars".
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 Martian Sundial for the Mars Surveyor arriving at Mars in 2002 |
- What communication system would you use to send messages to and from the Earth?
- What kinds of systems would you use to communicate with explorers away from their home base on Mars?
- What systems would you use to communicate between colony members within the community?