my wifi can’t even reach my bedroom
In: Technology
There’s a couple of factors why for example Voyager’s signal carries through the whole solar system and your WiFi signal does not.
First of all, the Voyager probes use a directional antenna. This means that it sends its signal in one direction, not in every direction like normal WiFi antennas and phones. This is like using a laser instead of a flashlight, the flashlight illuminates a big area with not a lot of intensity, and the laser illuminates a small area, with a lot of intensity.
Secondly, your WiFi signal doesn’t pass through walls very well, but it works fine in space.
And maybe one of the most overlooked points: you cannot communicate very quickly with Voyager. Communication speeds with the probe are often measured in bit per second, while your WiFi is about 5 megabits per second. That’s a million times more. Your phone just ignores a WiFi connection that is that slow, because it would take hours just loading one image.
Finally, NASA uses very big antennas to receive the signal of the Voyagers. These antennas are a lot more sensitive than your phone’s antenna.
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