NASA is testing new technologies that can increase bandwidth to perform operations such as transmitting more complex science data in space and on Earth, and even streaming video from Mars. NASA’s Psyche probe will travel to the asteroid about 497 million km from Earth in October, carrying a new laser communications system that promises to revolutionize deep space missions, according to a new blog post shared by the agency.The development that will revolutionize deep space missions: In other words, the laser communication system
Humanity has made remarkable leaps since the beginning of the Space Age, visiting every planet in our solar system and even sending robotic spacecraft into interstellar space. But these extraordinary missions are still hampered by radio communications that were locked in the 1960s. But NASA’s Psyche probe may solve this problem by carrying a new laser communications system that promises to revolutionize deep space missions when launched to an asteroid 309 million miles (497 million km) from Earth in October.
Launching this fall, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) project will test how lasers can accelerate data transmission far beyond the capability of existing radio frequency systems used in space. DSOC could pave the way for broadband communications to help support humanity’s next giant leap forward.
DSOC, a device that can send and receive infrared laser data, will launch in October at Pysche, a metal-rich asteroid of the same name. During the first two years of the journey, the device will communicate with two ground stations in Southern California. This will test new methods for decoding powerful laser transmitters and the signals sent by the device from deep space.
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