The terminal will bring laser communication capabilities to the space station, gathering data from the hundreds of experiments that take place on the orbiting laboratory and relaying it to LCRD at 1.2 gigabits per second. This year, NASA will launch the Integrated LCRD Low-Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal, or ILLUMA-T, on a SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station. Dave Ryan/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center It is truly a game-changing capability.”ĭata from the International Space Station can be gathered by ILLUMA-T and sent to Laser Communications Relay Demonstration before quickly reaching Earth. “With optical communications, we’re blowing that out of the water as far as the amount of data we can bring back. “In the past, we’ve designed our instruments and spacecraft around the constraint of how much data we can get down or back from space to Earth,” said TBIRD Project Manager Beth Keer in a statement. The tissue box-size satellite provides 200-gigabit-per-second data downlinks, which is the highest optical rate yet achieved by NASA. Then, there was the launch of the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery satellite, or TBIRD, in May 2022. The experiment, which lasts for two years, will reveal the impacts of Earth’s atmosphere on the laser signals as NASA and other agencies and institutions test its capabilities. It all started in December 2021 with the launch of NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, or LCRD, which went into orbit about 22,000 miles (35,406 kilometers) from Earth as the first test of two-way laser communication. The laser communication systems, which are also more lightweight, secure and flexible, can supplement the radio waves used by most NASA missions. Lasers, traveling as invisible beams, can send terabytes of data in a single transmission. Lasers will be able to send back more data at a quicker rate across longer distances, such as when Orion is flying by the moon during Artemis II. Traditionally, NASA has relied on radio waves to communicate with spacecraft and return data to Earth.Īntennae located across the world receive communications from satellites that transmit radio frequencies carrying data to and from various missions, like returning scientific data or sending commands from mission control. “The higher the data rates, the more information our instruments can send home to Earth, and the more science our lunar explorers can perform.” “By infusing new laser communications technologies into the Artemis missions, we’re empowering our astronauts with more access to data than ever before,” said O2O Project Manager Steve Horowitz in a statement. The laser system will also be able to send and receive procedures, flight plans, voice messages and other communications between the Orion spacecraft and mission control on Earth. The high bandwidth, a far cry from the grainy footage captured during the Apollo missions 50 years ago, could enable high-definition views of the moon in real time. The O2O system will be capable of returning high-resolution images and video of the lunar surface back to Earth with a downlink rate of up to 260 megabits per second. This illustration depicts the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System sending a laser signal from the Orion spacecraft to Earth.
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