NASA researchers have successfully tested laser communications in space by transmitting 4K video footage from an aircraft in the sky to the International Space Station and back.
The feat demonstrates that the space agency can provide live coverage of lunar landings during Artemis missions and heralds the development of optical communications that will connect humans to Mars and beyond. NASA typically uses radio waves to send data and calls between the surface and space, but says laser communications using infrared light can transmit data 10 to 100 times faster than radio.
Engineers outfitted an airplane with a portable laser terminal, which then flew over Lake Erie and sent the data back to the center in Cleveland. The data is then transmitted via terrestrial networks to NASA’s New Mexico test facility, where scientists control the transmission of the data to the agency’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) satellite 22,000 miles away. The LCRD then forwards it to ILLUMA-T (Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low Earth Orbit User Data Machine and Amplifier Terminal) on the International Space Station.
Although the Artemis mission has been delayed, the fourth manned mission to return to the moon is still on track for 2028. .
