Question for satellite experts!!!

Ok so we have TONS of satellites all over the galaxy right? we even had the rover a land on mars **supposedly** We get thousands of pictures weekly of space from the cameras attached to these devices. My question to everyone is why is there such a minimal amount of video???...would we learn more about space if we took videos?? maybe see whats flying around?? especially on mars this would be most beneficial. It seems like the only place we record video in space is the sun, the ISS, some of the planets. Do we not have the ability to zoom in on a planet like Jupiter and record one of its storms close up?? Can that video revolutionize our thoughts on other planetary storms? The 1 time we a recorded a neighborhood storm was the hexagon on Saturn wasn't that min blowing?!?! So why not video everything??...now if there was something to hide well that would explain alot

PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND

Originally posted by Artorius
Ok so we have TONS of satellites all over the galaxy right? we even had the rover a land on mars **supposedly**

Nope! - Most of our Satellites are in Earth orbit lol.... Some like SOHO orbit the sun, a few in orbit of other planets and bodies.

We have some 'deep space' probes... The Voyagers 1 and 2, they are still within the solar system although I believe we are about to have man made items leave the solar system.

So nothing out side the solar system that I know of, not exactly all over the galaxy is it?

reply to post by Now_Then


sorry but that still doesn't answer my question pal..why so many pictures and barley any video????

reply to post by Artorius

Ok so we have TONS of satellites all over the galaxy right?

The galaxy is a big place, we do have space craft all over the solar system but have yet to go outside of our own system as of yet. I wouldn't call them all satellites though. Satellite, natural or artificial, means to orbit a planet.

I am no expert on the equipment that is used on these probes but I think the limitations have to do with the technology of the time of each space craft's creation and launch. Once launched all we can do is upgrade the software (unless it orbits Earth like the Hubble telescope). There are also limitations on the equipment due to the environment the craft is going through. This puts a tremendous amount of stress on any equipment on board. Given these limitations they must be careful on what they put onto/into these space crafts and how/where they put this stuff.

There are also limitations on the ability to communicate with these craft. Video files have a lot more data than still images. I think all of the videos (excluding video from the Apollo missions) we see from space, Saturn's polar storm for instance, are simply linked still images that were sent over time. Keep in mind even some of the best equipment that can be purchased today would not hold up to the environment of space that these craft have to go through. I think it would be very tough to design such space craft with the anticipation of how hostile an environment they have to deal with.

ADD, Something else I just thought of. Still images are far better quality than video if I'm not mistaken. It would be crucial to put equipment on board that will do the best job. Video just isn't good enough yet.


I just found a short video of Jupiter's spot. Well it's a series of still images but all the same it looks cool.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot
I wanted to post this because I agree with you, videos of the planets in motion are great and we could learn alot from them. I wish there were more.

Filming and sending a video from another planet would take up a lot of energy and bandwidth. What more could we learn from a video that we couldn't learn from a quick succession of images? Apart from some dust devils and moving clouds on Mars, it's a very static place.

Having said that, personally I would love to see some videos from Mars or Moon's surface, if only just a rover picking up a rock and throwing it.

By the way, there are videos taken from the lunar orbit: www.youtube.com...