Earth Receives Laser Message From Deep Space 140 Million Miles Away

The asteroid named Psyche is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This robotic explorer also has the mission of testing laser communications. Equipped with the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) system, Psyche aims to enable laser communication across vast distances in space, offering faster connections than current methods. While Psyche primarily uses radio frequency communication, the optical communications technology has proven its capability.

In a remarkable feat, the laser communications demo successfully transmitted engineering data from over 140 million miles away, which is 1.5 times the distance between Earth and the sun, after interfacing with Psyche’s radio frequency transmitter. The DSOC also successfully interfaced with Psyche’s radio transmitter, allowing the spacecraft to transmit information and engineering data directly back to Earth. Meera Srinivasan, the project’s operations lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), reported that about 10 minutes of duplicated spacecraft data was downlinked on April 8 via laser communications, while the original Psyche data was sent to ground control using standard radio-frequency communications channels on NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN). The objective was to assess whether laser communications could perform as effectively, if not better, than traditional methods.

NASA’s optical communications demonstration has proven its ability to 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. However, due to the spacecraft’s distance, the data transmission rate is lower, achieving a maximum rate of 25 Mbps during a test on April 8, and exceeding the project’s goal of proving at least 1 Mbps was achievable at that distance. As Psyche continues its journey towards the Psyche 16 asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, it is reportedly stable and healthy.