[pjscott]

In case anybody was wondering "Why is the frame rate so lousy?" the answer is that the probe only has about 325 bits per second of downlink on average.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)

[skohan]

What's the limiting factor on bandwidth constraints for probes like this? Is it the power of the probe? Is it the distance from earth?

I wonder if you could build a mesh network of satellites/probes out farther into the solar system to get better connectivity for projects like this.

[rich_sasha]

The limiting factor is power/distance^2 basically, which determines the signal/noise ratio, which determines the bandwidth.

A mesh network sounds fun, though you'd have to have a fair few probes, as their orbits wouldn't be in sync. Also that far from the sun, solar panela don't cut it and you need nuclear thermal generators, which have a finite lifespan.

[credit_guy]

Also the power. Juno does not have nuclear power, only solar panels. The Sun is quite dim at Jupiter’s distance.

From wikipedia:

    Power: 14 kW at Earth,435 W at Jupiter

Overall the strangth of the signal coming from a solar powered spacecraft in the outer Solar system should go down with the 4th power of the distance.

[sgt]

Would it be possible to extrapolate frames in between to give one smooth flyover?

[shrx]

Nitpick: you interpolate data between two known points (frames), and extrapolate beyond the first or last known datapoint.

[scrollaway]

You just blew my mind. Thanks for pointing this out, what seems obvious in hindsight :)

[sgt]

Thanks for the correction

[sgt]

I guess extrapolation is quite simple: just pitch black

[abrichr]

Here's an attempt: https://youtu.be/RgvxLEYeb3g

[sgt]

Really cool - if you could also change the shape of the planet it would look even better.

[Cthulhu_]

And are there additional images in the probe's storage that will be transferred over the coming... years?

[giantrobot]

Yes but it will look like there's extrapolated frames. I'm sure you'll see something like that in a YouTube video or something on the Discovery channel but I don't see the point of NASA doing that.