The limited capacity of traditional radio frequencies has become a communications problem, especially as space missions increase and these missions produce more data. Current radio systems are insufficient to handle the amount of data that needs to be sent back, and NASA will use high-frequency laser technologies that can carry more data to solve this problem.

NASA is currently conducting an experiment called Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) to test new communications systems. DSOC simply summarized Is it possible to communicate with space with lasers? investigates. This system, which successfully transmitted its first test data last year, also successfully transmitted data from real spacecraft to Earth earlier this year.

Distance between Mars and Earth simulated in tests

Meera Srinivasan, DSOC operations leader stated that laser communications require very high precision and before the launch they did not know how lasers would perform at the farthest distances, but after the tests the methods used in laser communications were validated and this technology would can be used a remarkable method to explore the solar system.

One of the biggest challenges in these tests was pointing the spacecraft’s and Earth’s antennas toward each other so that data could be transmitted over enormous distances. As a result of the tests At a distance of 53 million km, where Mars is closest to Earth, it has a speed of 267 megabits per second. reaches. At a greater distance, 386 million km, this speed was recorded as 6.25 megabits. Although data rates decrease with distance, these speeds are still much faster than traditional radio frequencies.

Although the first phase of testing has been completed, DSOC’s work continues. In the coming months we will see whether the laser transceiver can continue to function in space for a year. New tests will be done to check this.

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