In memory of Ann Robinson, here is her audio commentary with Gene Barry about ‘The War of the Worlds’. It’s on the 2005 DVD.
Worlds at War Words
Category: Sci-Fi
A Worlds War Ends
I am saddened to learn that Ann Robinson, star of War of the Worlds, the 1953 movie that’s one of my very favorites, has passed away. She died last September, but it wasn’t announced until a couple of days ago.
Scotty, We Need More Bandwidth!
An idle thought I had was about the transporters on Star Trek. If matter is digitized in some way and transmitted over an analog frequency through space, the data rate needed to pull that off would have to be incredible.
So, what is the current SOTA data rate from space? No surprise, it’s with the James Webb Space Telescope.
The maximum throughput is 28 Mbps, equivalent to the best ADSL Internet service. There are also a couple of side channel links running at dialup modem speed.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/james-webb-telescope-communications
However, during the Artemis 2 Moon mission, the data rate was almost ten times faster. By using lasers, communication ran at a maximum of 260 Mbps.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20250010065
Which is still well below the download speed I’m seeing right now from the porch.
In November, Voyager 1 will achieve the amazing milestone of being 1 light-day away from Earth. What’s the current data rate between Voyager 1 and Earth? An extremely modest 160 bps download to Earth/16 bits up.
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/instruments/
In other space news, the Perseverance Rover is about to complete a total of 26.2 miles, a marathon distance, on Mars.
By using the Mars orbiters for communication with Earth, the Perseverance data rate is up to 2 Mbps.
https://www.l3harris.com/sites/default/files/2021-02/L3Harris-IMS-EO-Sellsheet-Rover.pdf#
Fan Rebellion
Star Wars Day is actually May 25, not May 4.
‘Rogue One: The Andor Cut’ sets out to re-envision ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ as the finale and epilogue of the Andor series, as if it had been made afterwards.
Fun With Phones and Wi-Fi
I can’t imagine being able to control the scanner from my phone is an option I’ll need often, but it’s nice to have.
This is a painting I bought from Colleen a long time ago. That’s Kovar, a character in her graphic novel series, ‘A Distant Soil’.
Here’s how the scan looks after a bit of tweaking that I wouldn’t have bothered doing with the old scanner. The adjustment overdoes the lighting a bit.
Explaining Yesterday’s Posts
- I would have said Austan Goolsbee is my pick for Fed Chairman, but he didn’t vote in dissent of the “easing bias.” Neel Kashkari did, so I went with him.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/29/fed-interest-rate-decision-april-2026.html
- Yes, I posted about Star Trek on Star Wars Day. Ha! So there!
- Can’t do any scanning until I get that new all-in-one printer!