At the end of 2023, NASA tested the Optical communications in deep spacea new communications system that allows data to be sent at a maximum speed of 267 Mbps. The test was carried out with the Psyche ship which was heading towards the asteroid of the same name in search of new materials such as nickel and gold. continues its journey towards the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter.
Radio frequency gives way to laser communications
To perform the speed test, a 15-second video was used with 4K resolution
Graphics overlaid on the chat illustrate features of this technology demonstration, such as Psyche’s orbital trajectory and technical information about the laser used. The objective of this project was to demonstrate the laser capacity to transmit video millions of kilometers since the ship does not include any devices capable of capturing video.
This new communication system between Earth and deep space is located between 10 and 100 times faster than traditional radio frequency systems, with a minimum of 25 Mbps and a maximum of 267 Mbps, figures much higher than those initially planned, set at just 1 Mbps.
More recently, when the spacecraft was in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, specifically on April 8, NASA used this same optical communication technology make a new demonstration, now that the Psyche ship is at 226 million kilometers of the earth, equivalent to 1.5 times the distance from the earth to the sun.
To carry out the test, which offered a maximum speed of 25 Mbps, NASA sent high-resolution images of cats and, once received by the spacecraft, they were returned, so that the information captured and traveled almost 450 million kilometers.
Why NASA uses a cat in its demonstrations
The reason for using cat images NASA It is, they claim, a tribute to the history of broadcasting since, during test broadcasts carried out in 1928, an image of Felix the Cat was used.
While it is true that this laser communication system constitutes a significant advance in terms of transmit information, presents a number of disadvantages which remain to be resolved, since there must be no clouds in the sky to obtain the maximum speed. In addition to clouds, storms also affect their operation, even interrupting them.