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NASA is testing technologies in space and on the ground that could increase bandwidth to transmit more complex scientific data and even stream video from Mars. NASA’s Deep
NASA is testing technologies in space and on the ground that could increase bandwidth to transmit more complex scientific data and even stream video from Mars. NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) project, scheduled to launch this fall, will test how lasers can accelerate data transfer far beyond the capabilities of existing radio frequency systems used in space. Known as a technology demonstration, DSOC could pave the way for broadband to help support humanity’s next giant leap—NASA sending astronauts to Mars.
The DSOC (data-sending device) near-infrared laser transceiver will be the “counter-trailer” for NASA’s Psyche mission when it launches to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name in October. During the first two years of the journey, the transceiver will communicate with two ground stations in Southern California to test highly sensitive detectors, powerful laser transmitters, and new methods for decoding the transceiver’s signals from deep space.
“DSOC is designed to show 10 to 100 times greater data efficiency than the most advanced radio systems in space today,” said Abi Biswas, DSOC project technologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “High-bandwidth laser communications for Earth orbit and lunar orbiters have proven proven, but deep space poses new challenges.”
Now more missions than ever are going into deep space, and they promise to capture exponentially more data than previous missions in the form of advanced scientific measurements, high-resolution images and videos. Experiments like DSOC will therefore play a critical role in helping NASA develop technologies that can be routinely used by spacecraft and ground systems in the future.
The Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California will receive high-speed downlink data from the DSOC flight transceiver. The telescope is equipped with a new superconducting detector that can determine the arrival time of individual photons from deep space. Credit: Palomar/Caltech
“DSOC represents the next phase of NASA’s plans to develop revolutionary advanced communications technologies capable of increasing data transmission from space, which is critical to the agency’s future goals,” said Trudy Cortes, director of the Technology Demonstration Mission (TDM) program. . At NASA headquarters in Washington. “We are very excited to have the opportunity to test this technology during the Psyche flight.”
The transceiver Psyche features several new technologies, including a never-before-fly photon-counting camera attached to an 8.6-inch (22-centimeter) aperture telescope that sticks out from the side of the spacecraft. The transceiver will autonomously scan and “lock” the high-power near-infrared laser uplink transmitted by JPL’s Table Mountain Optical Communications Telescope near Wrightwood, California. The laser uplink will also display the commands sent to the transceiver.
“The powerful uplink laser is a key part of this technical demonstration of increasing spacecraft speed, and upgrades to our ground systems will enable optical communications for future deep space missions,” said Jason Mitchell, program manager for space communications and NASA Navigation (SCaN). ) at NASA Headquarters.
After connecting to the uplink laser, the transceiver will locate the 200-inch (5.1 meter) Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, about 100 miles (130 kilometers) south of the Stolova mountains. The transceiver will then use its near-infrared laser to transmit high-speed data to Palomar. Spacecraft vibrations that would otherwise push the laser out of the target will be dampened by state-of-the-art mounts that connect the transceiver to the Psyche.
To receive the high-speed downlink laser from the DSOC transceiver, the Hale telescope was equipped with a new superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. The assembly is cryogenically cooled so that a single laser photon (quantum particle of light) can be detected and its arrival time recorded. Transmitted as a series of pulses, laser light must travel more than 200 million miles (300 million kilometers) before weak signals can be detected and processed for information; this is the farthest the spacecraft will travel during this technical demonstration.
“Every component of DSOC showcases new technology, from high-power uplink lasers to the transceiver’s telescope guidance system and highly sensitive detectors that can count individual photons as they come in,” said Bill Klipstein of DSOC project JPL. manager. “The team even had to develop new signal processing techniques to squeeze information from such weak signals transmitted over long distances.”
Great distances pose another challenge for the technical demonstration: The farther Psyche travels, the longer it will take for photons to reach their destination, creating a delay of up to tens of minutes. As the laser photons progress, the positions of the Earth and spacecraft will constantly change, so this delay will need to be compensated.
“Aiming and fixing a laser millions of kilometers away while dealing with the relative motion of Earth and Psyche is an exciting challenge for our project,” said Biswas.
It is the latest in a series of optical communications demonstrations funded by DSOC, TDM and SCaN. A division of the Cal Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, JPL manages DSOC for TDM in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and SCaN in the agency’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. Source
Source: Port Altele
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