Does the signal go through the entire earth? Does it curve and travel around the earth? How come the earth isn’t blocking out the signal? I just can’t wrap my head around it. Same thing with satelites that transmit our internet. There can’t be thousands of satelites in a perfect formation that covers every angle, so how does it work?
PRIMARILY interested in the first scenario, how does the ISS transfer signals to USA if the earth’s mass is between USA and the satelite?
In: 5
> There can’t be thousands of satelites in a perfect formation that covers every angle, so how does it work?
You don’t need thousands but yeah, that’s exactly how it works.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/space-communications-7-things-you-need-to-know
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/services/networks/tdrs_main
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_segment and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_station
If you want to get a message from point A to point B, you can send it to point C (and any number in between) which will relay the message. Radio needs line of sight to work. It’s like note passing in a classroom. You can’t reach your friend on the other side of the room, but you can pass it to someone in reach, who can pass it to someone else they can reach. Something as simple as writing who you want it to get to should be enough for each person to decide which way to pass it.
If you think of your ground route like the classroom, a station that can transmit to space could be like a window where you could hold up a big note for someone outside the window to see. They know to look at the window (point their receiver to the transmitter). Then as they move past that window, your notes will go to another window.
The satellites for relay could be like other people outside the windows watching and who can copy the sign and show it. What matters is that the information is effectively the same.
Latest Answers