Astronauts watching Star Wars on the ISS

boing
21

From a geostationary satelite … still a download.

1 Like
22

i’d rather have some hot buttered soul.

23

Reminds me of a bit of dialogue about Star Wars from Third Rock from the Sun;

Tommy: Check it out.
Dick: What’s that?
Tommy: That’s supposed to be space.
Dick: A-ha-ha-ha. If that was space I never would have left.

4 Likes
24

Yep.

Uplink to the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (“TDRSS”, pronounced Tee′-drəss) at geosync, then downlink from TDRSS to the ISS.

That’s the usual path.

1 Like
25

I’d get jittery “relaxing” on the ISS. It’s at just that time that you get a message that your AE-35 unit is going to go 100 percent failure within 72 hours.

3 Likes
26

Nah, I hear they are using -nix.

27

I’m just jealous that they could pause the damn thing and go to the bathroom halfway through.

28

I don’t know the answer, but in Soviet Space Station Mir, movie uploads itself.

1 Like
29

To the extent that “download” and “upload” have ever had distinct meanings, rather than being redundant synonyms for “copy”, the direction refers to hosts being “upstream” or “downstream” of one another, in relation to a vague org-chart picture where servers above feed information to clients below. In that sense the ISS is no “higher” than any other double-wide, and probably lower, as it presumably needs an extra layer of routing to deal with the constant handing off between ground stations.

Everyday communication has never involved satellites to the extent that people seem to think (certainly not internet traffic, which has fundamental issues with satellite links), but even if that were the origin of the word “download”, the ISS is basically on the ground from the point of view of a communication satellite orbiting 22,000 miles higher.

For these reasons I have received your joke in stony, grim-faced silence.

3 Likes
30

Bah! Literally the whole point of Einstein is that they didn’t!

/stamps hooves pedantically

31

Especially with how many vessels get exploded in Star Wars. I would not appreciate the reminders of just how close they are to a cold death in the void.

32

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.