NASA received a signal from a spacecraft 10 million miles away. The Space Agency said, “The message, delivered using a distant laser, could “transform” communications with spacecraft.
“It represents a successful test of Nasa’s Deep Space Optical Communications, or Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment. This is the first time that data has been successfully transmitted through a laser from further away than the Moon.
According to Independent news agency, “It represents a successful test of Nasa’s Deep Space Optical Communications or DSOC experiment. It is also the first time that data has been successfully relayed through a laser from further away than the Moon – and marks a rapid increase, at more than 40 times the distance from the lunar surface.” Nasa’s work on DSOC is an attempt to use optical communications through lasers instead. The technology could improve data rates by as much as 100 times, the space agency says.
Last week, that equipment locked onto a Nasa laser beacon in California. Nasa says that the “first light” breakthrough is one part of a host of experiments that they hope will prove the laser technology can work.
“Achieving first light is one of many critical DSOC milestones in the coming months, paving the way toward higher-data-rate communications capable of sending scientific information, high-definition imagery, and streaming video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars,” said Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at Nasa Headquarters in Washington told Independent.