When we see space-themed movies, the actors are often depicted wearing spacesuits and communicating with ground control. Communication and sound technology appear to be non-problematic and things are all looking good. That is until the plot of the story starts to unfold, and all crazy space scenarios seem to happen.
However, in real-life space living, a lot of things are needed to be considered in order to just talk and communicate efficiently. In this article, we will learn how communication works in space.
Sound is an energy created when molecules create energy out of vibration. Since there is no matter in a vacuum, you cannot create or hear audio from space. Astronauts are able to answer this problem by creating their mini-atmosphere by supplying Oxygen inside the ship cabin through the process of electrolysis. With this fix, they can talk the same way they would on Earth.
Sound is something present in everyday life. It is one of the things that can be easily taken for granted by a lot of people. But without sound, most methods of communication are not possible. The effects of living without sound are even more dangerous in space, where astronauts cannot expect to receive help as soon as possible if something bad happens.
Just like other things in life, communication is the key to a successful space mission and its execution. One miscommunication can cost the untimely abortion of the mission or even the life of the astronauts aboard. The basis of space communication and how it is done in space is featured in this article. But first, let us know how sound energy works.
How Do Sounds Work?
Sounds are energy produced when things vibrate or move back and forth quickly. If you caused an object to vibrate (e.g. tapping your fingers to the table), it will cause the surrounding air molecules to vibrate too. These air molecules will pass the vibration to other air molecules until all the energy produced has been spent traveling.
When the vibration reached the air molecules inside your ears and caused vibration, this is when you hear the sound. If the vibration created stronger sound energy, the sound can travel longer distances, and more people can hear it.
Let’s use the guitar strings for example. Once you pluck a string, all the metal molecules from it start to vibrate. In reaction to this, the air molecules around the guitar string will also vibrate. You will hear the sound of a string being plucked once the sound wave reaches the molecules in your ears.
In Physics, a traveling vibration is called a sound wave. Sound waves move fast or slow, based on the molecules it will pass by along the way. Usually, the speed of sound is fast enough, that human senses cannot detect any delay. Sounds that travel in dry air at 20 °C has a speed of about 343 meters per second.
To produce sounds, vibrations need to travel from one molecule to another. For example, on the Earth’s surface, sound waves traveling via air is the fastest. Although sound waves can travel via liquid molecules, the nature of liquids makes them slower and sound more muffled. But that’s nothing compared to vibrations traveling with solid molecules. Sound waves can be muffed a lot to the point that you might not hear any of the sound waves anymore.
Vibration And Space
Here’s a thing about sound: they cannot travel without vibration. And as we know it, space is a place where no matter exists. Space is a quiet place with no air or other molecules around. Sound waves cannot be generated or heard regardless of how much energy is in it. It’s really impossible to hear anything, even yourself when you’re floating in space.
Another thing about the space is it will kill you instantly. Having no air molecules means no way of breathing. For any unfortunate souls that get caught up in the void, it’s a certain death sentence. If the lack of oxygen doesn’t kill you first, the damage caused by the low pressure would. All the liquid in your body will boil and cause fatal injuries.
Fortunately, the astronauts fix this problem with one simple solution: if there’s no air in space, why not just bring your own? With that in mind, folks at NASA and other space agencies made a clever solution to make sure that there will always an oxygen supply inside the spaceship.
Communicating Inside The Space Station
Astronauts live in pressurized cabins with oxygen supplies that enable them to breathe. Oxygen is supplied by means of water electrolysis. The space station uses solar energy to turn water into oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen produced with this method will be pumped up inside the cabins.
Meanwhile, the leftover Hydrogen will be mixed with excess Carbon Dioxide (which the passengers produce) to replace the used water. Another byproduct, methane, is vented out to into space. According to chief microbiologist Monsi Roman, NASA is working on methods on how everything can be reused. Their goal is to make the ISS self-sufficient.
With the presence of a mini atmosphere in the cabin, there is a medium on where the sound can vibrate and travel. Sound waves are able to travel inside the cabins, which makes conversations possible. If the Oxygen supply is running low, a new batch of water from Earth is delivered. After taking the supplies, the astronauts inside will pack the cargo and return it to Earth.
Passengers can hear the sounds inside the cabin without using a specialized suit or additional machine. They can communicate with their colleagues the way they communicate on Earth. Astronauts would have to make regular maintenance to make sure the equipment is functioning properly.
Communication outside the space station is actually quite harder. When missions require the astronauts to go outside of the ship, their lives heavily depend on their spacesuits. The suit has a lot of techie stuff that helps in an astronaut’s movements and survival, including a communication device. If the suit malfunctions, it can be certain death for the crew member.
Communicating While At Space Walk
During a mission outside the ISS, astronauts don a special spacesuit that will protect them from the vacuum and supply oxygen and water. It also has a communication device directly installed in the suit. This is an important improvement, as the user doesn’t have to worry about maintaining both the microphone and the receiver in place while in the space.
Although there is no sound in the space, light can still travel within the expanse of the void. Instead of sending out vibration, the communication device sends out electromagnetic radiation or radio waves. This way, both astronauts outside the ISS can still talk while working outside of the ship.
Since there is oxygen inside the suit, the sender can actually make a sound that only they can hear. However, these sound waves are converted into radio waves, which are then sent out of space and are received by the other person’s receiver. The receiver will then convert the radio waves into sound waves and will be played over by the helmet’s speakers, which is what the recipient hears.
If communication devices started to malfunction, the astronauts can still use visual communication to talk to each other. They can use body language and hand signs to signal important orders and instructions to follow. However, if suit malfunction happens, it is more likely that both astronauts will abort the mission go back to safety immediately.
As of now, NASA’s plan is to build a higher fidelity version of the audio system. This can make the whole communication system faster, clearer, and overall better in decimating information to both astronauts out on a spacewalk. There are also plans to implement higher fidelity audio even inside the spacious cabins. If improved, the current audio system in the suit can also communicate with people inside the ship clearly and fast.
International Space Station To Earth
The ISS uses an internet connection to send data from space to Earth. Internet connection is also used when the crew members what to message their families In fact, the space crew uses a software called the Softphone installed in the laptops and computers of the International Space Stations.
This software uses the internet to dial any number they want to call. Instead of speaking to a phone, they use a headset and mic to talk to the other person online. Unfortunately, because of the distance from Earth to the ISS, there is a 1-second lag before in conversations. Albeit this inconvenience, the Softphone is one of the technologies that astronauts can use when they miss their loved ones.
Other conventional methods of communication are also available to the passengers of ISS, such as texting, email, and the internet. Astronauts can use the internet while in space, but their connection is worst than dial-up. However, they have a very reliable email sending and receiving system.