Goddard Glossary: Electromagnetic Interference

Narration: Chyna Vargas

Transcript:

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Electromagnetic interference.

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It makes phoning home

a little harder.

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At NASA, we rely on space

communications to hear

from our spacecraft.

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It's how they send their science

and mission data back to Earth.

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Most missions today use radio

waves to transmit this data.

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Electromagnetic interference

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is a disturbance on

the communications

link coming to or

from a satellite.

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This interference, also known

as noise, can result in partial

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or complete data loss.

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Usually this interference is

caused by a human-made object

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like a car alternator or something

natural, like a solar storm.

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They can come from

many different things,

which is why NASA communications

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engineers monitor the signals

going to and from a spacecraft.

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They watch to ensure

the signal power --

which contains the

data comprised

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of digital ones and zeros --

is higher than the level of

noise impacting the signal.

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This signal power to noise

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ratio tells the network how

much usable data they're

getting back from a mission.

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At the end of the day, our

communications

engineers work to ensure

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NASA's missions can transmit data

without the fear of interference.