NASA is working with private industry and small business partners, led by Artemis, to create scalable, affordable and advanced laser communications systems that will enable greater exploration and discovery beyond Earth for the benefit of everyone.

Laser or optical communications enable missions to have increased data rates; This means that missions using laser technology can send and receive more information in a single transmission than missions using traditional radio waves. When a spacecraft uses laser communications to send information, infrared light packages the data into denser waves so ground stations on Earth can receive more data at once. Laser communication systems can provide data rates 10-100 times higher than the radio systems used in space missions today.

As science instruments improve to collect high-resolution data, missions will need faster ways to transmit information to Earth. It would take about nine weeks to transmit a complete map of Mars to Earth using modern radio frequency systems. With lasers, this only takes nine days.

Advanced laser technologies

Thanks to the collaboration of small businesses, NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program funded the successful development of a new laser technology. Fibertek Inc. Developed by. optical laser terminal Basestation is a four-channel laser device capable of providing high-power communication with the Moon during Artemis II flight tests. Artemis II will send a crew of four astronauts on a journey around the Moon and return them safely, paving the way for future long-duration human exploration missions to the lunar surface and eventually Mars.

The Artemis II demonstration, known as the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System, will use laser communications to transmit high-resolution images and video of the lunar region to two ground stations. One of two ground stations at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is a low-cost optical terminal.

The low-cost optical terminal at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, uses off-the-shelf or slightly modified commercial equipment to reduce the cost of implementing laser communications technology.

Credit: NASA

Fibertek technology was integrated and successfully tested on NASA’s low-cost terminal ground station in September 2023. NASA’s inexpensive optical terminal is a telescope about 27 inches in diameter, built mostly from commercial off-the-shelf parts. Using off-the-shelf components is more cost-effective than developing custom hardware and can also make the architecture scalable for replication. The low-cost optical terminal will serve as a template for future ground stations.

“Laser communications, focused on direct connections with Earth, is an emerging technology that is essential for NASA to meet future communications capabilities and navigation needs. When developing any technology, it is vital to establish and maintain a healthy domestic supply chain,” he said at SCaN’s Washington Dr., director of the Advanced Communications and Navigation Technologies Division at NASA Headquarters in Jason Mitchell. “American small businesses play an important role in this chain, and Fibertek Inc. Our relationship with is in this direction. is an example of this process.”

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research Program funded the development of the Basestation optical laser terminal. Through its American Startup Fund, NASA provides early-stage federal funding to small businesses for innovative technologies to advance the agency’s missions.

“NASA’s investment in the development of this technology is a win-win for the agency and Fibertek, as well as any other future system integrators or developers looking to use laser communications technology,” said Nang Pham, SCaN Small Business Project Manager. NASA Glenn has it.

As NASA prepares to send humans to the Moon for the first time in 50 years, new laser technologies will expand humanity’s knowledge of our Moon and beyond by providing more efficient laser communications systems.