After a decade of efforts, NASA and other organizations will now experiment with laser communication instead of radio for the first time. Photo: Courtesy of NASA and SpaceX
California: NASA and other organizations will test laser communication systems for space-to-Earth and Earth-to-space communication for the first time, which will be a one-of-a-kind experiment.
The LLLUMAT laser system is expected to be tested in the 80s and deployed to the International Space Station (ISS). It is about the size of a refrigerator and will transmit information to Earth at the speed of a decent Internet connection.
The entire system will be launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company rocket to the ISS, an advanced two-way laser communication system. It should be noted that whether there are humans in space, satellites, or spaceships, they communicate by radio because this method is also reliable.
Laser devices are lighter and consume less power than radios. Thus, it is easy to install them on a spacecraft or an orbiting station. Since the wavelength of the laser is shorter than that of radio waves, a lot of data can be transmitted or received at a time.
Although NASA has been trying for ten years for communication between Earth orbit and Earth, it has been delayed. Then in 2021, NASA built the Laser Communication Relay Demonstration (LCRD) system, which was launched on a satellite.
Now after the installation of laser communication system on ISS, the matter has been completed. The LLLUMAT laser system installed on the space station will deliver the first infrared laser LCD satellite with a data transfer capability of 1.2 gigabits per second. The satellite will then beam this laser down to Earth. Two ground stations in Hawaii and California will receive it.
NASA and other experts are optimistic that the experiment will be successful.
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