NASA is using lasers to evolve how the agency communicates between spacecraft.
Prior to now, the space agency has relied on radio signals beamed through its Deep Space Network to transmit any form of scientific data from deep space probes back to Earth. Lasers, nonetheless, have the flexibility to vastly increase the quantity of information spacecraft are in a position to send, and NASA is able to send the technology across the moon.
NASA is including laser communications in the shape of the Orion Artemis 2 Optical Communications System (O2O) terminal on Artemis 2, the subsequent crewed mission across the moon. “Onboard the Orion capsule, the O2O system will send back high-resolution images and video from the lunar region,” a NASA video published in April states. If all goes in keeping with plan, the system should enable viewers on Earth to see the moon in real-time like never before.
Related: NASA’s Artemis 2 mission: Every part that you must know
Imagine having dial-up web for years, then upgrading to gigabit fiber optic speeds. That is essentially what NASA is hoping to perform for its future spacecraft.
To put the groundwork for future laser communications, NASA has launched several demonstration satellites lately. The Laser Communication Relay Demonstration (LCRD) launched in December 2021 was the agency’s first laser relay. That was followed by the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) CubeSat launched last yr, which reached data transmission rates of 200 gigabits per second.
Now, NASA is preparing the Integrated LCRD Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T), which is predicted to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) later this yr. ILLUMA-T will attach to the exposed facility on the Japanese Experiment Module.
Once operational, ILLUMA-T will relay data back to Earth through LCRD in NASA’s first end-to-end laser relay communications system, laying the groundwork for the O2O system that will probably be aboard Orion during Artemis 2.
Still, as NASA notes in its recent video, these experiments are “only the beginning of how laser communications are paving the best way for advancing our scientific discoveries.”
The success of Artemis 1 last yr has put Artemis 2 on an imminent path to launch, which is able to fly the primary astronauts to the moon since 1972. Images from the cameras mounted to Orion captivated the world throughout the spacecraft’s first mission to lunar orbit and back.
With a crew onboard for Artemis 2, NASA expects to transmit not only high resolution images, but video as well. If all goes in keeping with plan with these laser communications experiments, we are able to expect to see loads of live or nearly live crew updates with the gorgeous background of the lunar surface visible in Orion’s windows.