Earth Gets Laser Message From 140 Million Miles Away In Deep Space

The asteroid named Psyche is said to be located in the asteroid belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. A robotic explorer carrying the same name, Psyche, is equipped with the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) system, designed to enable laser communication across vast distances in space.

This technology promises much faster connections than current radiofrequency communication methods. Although Psyche primarily uses radiofrequency communication, the DSOC system successfully transmitted engineering data from over 140 million miles away, demonstrating its capability in a remarkable feat.

The system also interfaced with Psyche’s radio frequency transmitter, enabling the transmission of information and engineering data directly from the spacecraft back to Earth. Meera Srinivasan, the project’s operations lead at JPL, explained that about 10 minutes of duplicated spacecraft data was downlinked during a pass on April 8.

The duplicated data was transmitted via laser communications, while the original Psyche data was sent to ground control using standard radiofrequency communications channels on NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN). The optical communications demonstration by NASA has proven that it can transmit test data at a maximum rate of 267 Mbps using the flight laser transceiver’s near-infrared downlink laser, similar to broadband internet speeds.

Though the data transmission rate is lower due to the spacecraft’s increased distance, a successful test on April 8 demonstrated a maximum rate of 25 Mbps, exceeding the project’s goal of proving at least 1 Mbps was achievable at that distance. Psyche continues to make its way towards the Psyche 16 asteroid while reportedly remaining stable and healthy.