from Hacker News

Dutch radio amateurs image far side of the Moon using Chinese satellite data

by followben on 2/6/19, 2:06 AM with 57 comments

  • by z2 on 2/6/19, 3:42 AM

    > The transceiver on board Longjiang-2 was designed to allow radio amateurs to downlink telemetry and relay messages through a satellite in lunar orbit, as well as command it to take and downlink images.

    This is so cool and would have made such an impact on me as a kid if I got to see it in action. I wish we could better demonstrate this sort of thing in middle school or high school science classes, such as how easy it is to download a weather satellite image live, via SDR.

  • by lalo2302 on 2/6/19, 8:04 AM

    > designed by radio amateur and Nobel prize winning astrophysicist Joe Taylor

    He doesn't sound like an amateur at all

  • by pvitz on 2/6/19, 11:58 AM

    This is amazing! I have a background in physics and electronics, but I have never been involved in amateur radio. However, I would love to and would like to ask if one could point me to resources for delving into it? When it comes to math and e.g. electrodynamics and practical filters, I wouldn't need an introduction. Thanks!

  • by testplzignore on 2/6/19, 8:49 AM

    What causes the pink hue in the original photos?

    http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/DSLWP-B/865fbeb5-116d-4f6a-bb86-0...

  • by arbitrage on 2/6/19, 4:05 PM

    Rock on, amateur operators!

    HAMs did the same thing in the 60s, decoding Soviet communications coming from the moon, which were the first closeup images of the surface at the time. They released the images to wide fanfare, and did a lot to defuse the Soviets' political agenda of holding this accomplishment above the western world.

  • by lixtra on 2/6/19, 8:57 AM

    Isn't it a copyright infringement to pick up some radio signal, reassemble it to pictures and publish them?

  • by syntaxing on 2/6/19, 2:01 PM

    So interesting! How do you send "error-resistant digitally modulated transmissions"? Is that the same thing as a duplex signal? Is there other technology used nowadays?

  • by changoplatanero on 2/6/19, 6:49 AM

    How do pixels work in radio astronomy? Does the antenna only capture one pixel every time the "shutter" is opened and then move to the next position?

  • by harias on 2/6/19, 1:41 PM

    The RTL-SDR community at Reddit is a good place to look for resources if you are looking to get into this: https://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR

  • by ninju on 2/6/19, 3:31 PM

    Dang...and I thought we would find all the aliens on the dark side of the moon. Where did they all go?