New Delhi: NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft has managed to use lasers to communicate over a distance of about half a billion kilometres, setting a new distance record for the relay of optical signals. NASA had earlier demonstrated laser communications from aircraft to ground stations, back to satellites, with researchers also demonstrating laser communications between a European satellite and a mobile Australian ground station. NASA has demonstrated required for receiving optical signals can be retrofitted onto existing dish antennas for radio communications.
In a series of demonstrations over increasingly larger distances, the Psyche spacecraft has demonstrated optical communications over a distance of 460 million kilometres, providing that lasers are a viable method to communicate with spacecraft at great distances from the Earth, according to Techno-Science.net. Since the launch of the first satellite in 1957, humans have been using radio to communicate with its robotic messengers, which has remained the primary mode of communication in space for over 70 years. However, radio is limited by bandwidth which is why NASA and other space agencies are looking to use laser or optical communications, which can lead to novel applications, such as realtime high-definition video calls to Mars.
How lasers can transform space travel
With the Psyche spacecraft, the researchers have been able to demonstrate optical communications at increasingly larger distances, proving their reliability and stability. There are however challenges to laser communications, that cannot easily pass through the clouds in the atmosphere. The mobile ground stations get around this shortcoming by moving to an area on the ground that the spacecraft can see, without being covered by clouds. The increase in bandwidth will allow scientists to transfer data at much greater speeds, allowing for realtime or near-realtime transmissions from lunar and Martian orbits, as well as the LaGrange points. Optical communications can particularly be useful for relay satellites as well, that do not have to worry about atmospheric disturbances in space.
