CAN CELL PHONES WORK IN SPACE?

 

Would be cool right?

Who wouldn't want to call their friends and family from orbit and brag about the amazing views and the weightlessness?

Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but the answer is no. Cell phones can't work in space.

And before you ask, no, it's not because of the lack of oxygen or the extreme temperatures.

It's because of the way cell phones communicate with the network.

You see, cell phones use radio waves to send and receive signals from cell towers on Earth. These towers are designed to cover a certain area, usually a few kilometers in radius.

The towers are also connected to each other by cables or satellites, forming a network that covers most of the populated areas on the planet.

But when you go to space, you leave this network behind.

You are too far away from any cell tower to get a signal. And even if you could somehow get close enough, the radio waves would be distorted by the atmosphere and the ionosphere, making them unusable.

Astronauts communicate with Earth by using different kinds of radio waves, called microwaves.

These waves have a higher frequency and a shorter wavelength than the ones used by cell phones.

They can travel longer distances and penetrate the atmosphere better.

They also use special antennas and satellites that are designed to relay these signals from space to Earth and vice versa.