Laser communication technology: NASA has managed to send video from deep space to Earth
In the future, the technology could be used to transmit data, images, and video faster from places as far away as Mars (when humans eventually reach it).
The 15-second video was laser-encoded and transmitted from the Psyche spacecraft to the Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory of the California Institute of Technology – the video signal took 101 seconds to reach Earth at a maximum system data rate of 267 Mbps. The video was uploaded to the observatory on December 11, and each frame was broadcast live at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
At the time of the video transmission, the distance between Psyche and the telescope was 80 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon, about 31 million kilometers. The laser can transmit data at a speed that is 10-100 times faster than traditional radio wave systems used by NASA in other missions.
“This achievement underscores our commitment to developing optical communications as a key element in meeting our future data transmission needs,” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said in a statement. “Increasing bandwidth is essential to achieving future research and science goals, and we look forward to further developing this technology and transforming the way we communicate on future interplanetary missions.”
Launched in mid-October, the Psyche mission is now heading for the metal asteroid of the same name located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Over the next 6 years, the spacecraft will cover about 3.6 billion kilometers to reach the goal, but during the first two years it will also participate in the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment.
As for the choice of video, NASA used a historical connection: starting in 1928, a small statuette of the popular cartoon character Felix the Cat was shown in television test broadcasts.
The video also contained superimposed graphs illustrating Psyche’s orbital path, the telescope dome, and technical information about the laser and its data rate (well, the heart rate, color, and name of Tatters’ rock were also demonstrated).
