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by p1mrx 890 days ago
I wonder what sort of rate they'll get at Mars distance (400 million km)? Psyche's orbit is beyond Mars, so we're likely to find out if the spacecraft stays operational.
1 comments

This pdf is like 10yrs old, but graph in the top right outlines the rate based on distance.

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/july2014/posters/9-DSOC_OPAG_P...

https://i.imgur.com/O9P58EG.png

The first line is around 267 Mbps, so it looks like they're expecting 10 Mbps at max distance to Mars.

That's still a really good speed, but I think the bigger question might be latency.
Latency would be determined almost completely by the speed of light itself.

Earth to Mars ranges from 5.5*10^10 to 4.0*10^11 m, and light travels 3*10^8 m/s.

Earth-Mars latency is therefore from 3 to 22 minutes one-way.