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Comment by raynr | Hacker News Reader

From my layman's understanding, it's relayed via the orbiters.

There are a few orbiters around Mars. NASA appears to have an arrangement with the ESA to upload data from the rovers to the ESA's orbiters, depending on whose orbiters are within line of sight at any given time. Then the orbiter sends the information back to Earth, which are received by NASA's Deep Space Network

During the time when line of sight between Earth and Mars is blocked by Sol, there isn't any communication.

May interest you: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/communicatio...

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It never ceases to impress me that we have the ability to do this sort of stuff. A couple thousand years ago, the height of technology was shooting something from a few hundred metres away with a bow and arrow, now we are landing machines on another planet and transmitting data back and forth through the solar system. Incredible.

Incredible for me, too. The power of building the civilization, one generation after another, and of working together, sharing the knowledge.

But according to Ancient Aliens, the large stone Pyramids were built by aliens, but the TV cameras recording the show's hosts, with CCDs, and likely 10nm chips inside, were built by humans.

In all seriousness, it's impressive what knowledge sharing and cooperation achieves.

[Ancient Aliens] Ah but the cameras and chips are only possible -because- the aliens built the pyramids and inspired humans technologically and a mere 4450 years later, voila! CCDs and computer chips!

Well, given the fact that we still know relatively little about most of the observable universe (dark matter & energy), I don't think you can completely rule out the several unlikely hypotheses. For example, that earlier civilizations instead of electricity used a completely different form of energy - and that basically directed their development into a completely different direction, not leaving many material artefacts. I don't believe this actually happened, but a part of me knows that I can't be 100% sure it didn't.

It is highly unlikely that the cameras being used to produce Ancient Aliens are CCDs unless they are also using ancient camera tech. Most likely, the camera's image sensors are CMOS. 3 chip CCDs reached their pinnacle as 90s/early 00s tech. CCDs can only sense one color, so they put three of them behind an RGB splitter.

A couple of thousand years ago is the peak of the Romans, so you're way off on your 'height' of technology at that time.

Using bows and arrows as an example when you've got wonders of pretty advanced engineering like the Parthenon, plus they also had ballistae, chariots and catapults, so not the peak at all.

Not only that, but even the bows were more advanced, composite bows much more powerful than simple ones made of wood.

The most complex machine of the Roman era was perhaps a water organ. (I would guess that for long historical periods the most complex machines were keyboard-controlled musical instruments.)

Oh see you did it now - opened up a vacuum about ancient tech.

I'll start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile

Great link, thanks for sharing! This has the makings of an excellent thread – please do continue sharing cool stuff!! :o)

(The question as to how - and why or why not - we could go from the Aeolipile to full blown steam engines, I've always found fascinating ...

... what other things / proceses / materials / frame of mind made the steam engine possible vs. this.

What made for an industrial revolution in the 1800's vs. the 1st century AD).-

One thing that severly hampered the romans was their number system.

Makes sense that it would ...

A couple of thousand years ago, humans built massive engineering projects, including the Pyramids, massive irrigation and earthwork systems, and tunnels, and bridges, domesticated wild animals, produced metals - including steel - out nothing but wood, water, and low grade ore, etc, etc.

They did not have internal combustion engines, or electricity, or the ability to machine parts to high tolerances, but ancient engineers cared deeply about efficiently transforming mechanical energy from one form to another.

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