Have you ever tried to download a movie with slow
Internet?
It buffers and it takes forever.
Now imagine trying to download movies all the way from
space.
The International Space Stations new terminal Illuma T will use
laser communications to demonstrate an enhanced way to transmit data.
In fact, aluma T can transmit data at a rate
that would allow you to download a movie in under
a minute.
The process of sending and receiving spacecraft data.
Is known as space communications.
NASA is enhancing space communications capabilities through the power of
lasers.
Laser communications use higher data rates to send an increased
amount of science and exploration data to Earth in a
single transmission.
Historically, we've relied on radio frequency communications to send and
receive data from space.
With laser communications, we are supplementing that method.
Laser communications can help NASA's science mission send more information
and data that is vital to our understanding of our
planet,
the solar system, and beyond.
To prove these groundbreaking capabilities,
NASA is infusing laser communications into multiple missions.
One of these missions is a relay satellite known as
LCD.
LCRD launched in 2021 and is Nasas first ever laser
relay which will receive data from Aluma T on the
space station.
Together, LCRD and Aluma T are NASA's first ever end
to end Laser Relay System,
demonstrating the benefits of a laser communications system.
Laser terminals are ideal for missions like the space station
because they are typically smaller,
lighter, and more efficient than comparable radio systems.
In 2022, NASA launched another laser communications mission called T
Bird to demonstrate 200 Gigabit per second data rates,
a record setting rate for the agency.
T Bird is a small satellite,
it's only the size of a tissue box and soon
NASA will launch a laser terminal on Artemis 2A crude
mission to the moon on board the Orion crew capsule.
The O2O system will send back high resolution images and
video from the lunar region.
Illuma, TLCRDT, BIRD and O2O are only the start of
how laser communications are paving the way for advancing our
scientific discoveries.
NASA is infusing lasers to further advance our communications capabilities
from the International Space Station today and to deep space
in the future.