NASA has just intercepted a laser transmission originating from a staggering 226 million kilometers away.
As NASA’s Psyche mission voyages to explore an enigmatic asteroid, its team has been trialing an innovative communication method. Instead of relying on traditional radio waves, they've employed an infrared laser.
Their latest endeavor, executed from the farthest distance to date, proved successful. Psyche was situated 226 million kilometers (140 million miles) from Earth during the transmission – 1.5 times the Earth-Sun distance.
Initially, Psyche transmitted its engineering data via radio waves through NASA's Deep Space Network. However, the mission team opted to utilize the Deep Space Optical
Communication system concurrently for the first time. Notably, prior transmissions comprised test data rather than spacecraft data.
Earlier trials involved the spacecraft at much closer ranges – mere tens of millions of kilometers away. These trials facilitated the transmission of images and even a cat video from deep space.
While the technology demonstrates potential, several hurdles remain. Notably, optical observations are hindered by cloud cover, unlike radio communications.
Ryan Rogalin, the project’s receiver electronics lead at JPL, remarked, “We’ve gleaned valuable insights into the system's capabilities during clear skies, albeit operations have been occasionally impeded by storms at both Table Mountain and Palomar.”
In June, the team plans to conduct further tests as Psyche approaches a distance 2.5 times that between Earth and the Sun.
This corresponds to the maximum distance between Mars and Earth. Success could pave the way for establishing a data-intensive network linking Earth and Mars.