Laser message sent from deep space reaches Earth: NASA: “next step in sending humans to Mars”

NASA has achieved a groundbreaking milestone by successfully transmitting a laser-beamed message from nearly 10 million miles away within a remarkable 50 seconds.

This technological feat, made possible through NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment aboard the Psyche spacecraft, represents a significant leap in space communication capabilities.

It marks the first instance of using lasers for data transmission from such a vast distance, making communication with Mars achievable within a reasonable time-frame.

“Achieving first light is a tremendous achievement. The ground systems successfully detected the deep space laser photons from DSOC’s flight transceiver aboard Psyche,” said Abi Biswas, project technologist for DSOC at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“And we were also able to send some data, meaning we were able to exchange ‘bits of light’ from and to deep space.”.

How the technology works

The successful transmission, received by the Hale Telescope in San Diego County, California, involved a laser signal acting as a guiding beacon for the Psyche spacecraft, which then relayed information back using its own laser.

DSOC’s optical communication technology, akin to fiber optic internet, enables the transmission of light signals at speeds comparable to radio waves but with significantly enhanced data-carrying capacity. This is crucial for contacting astronauts on Mars, one of NASA’s main future plans.

“The primary objective is to give future NASA missions the tools for returning data at much higher rates,” Biswas said in a video.