NASA To Demonstrate Laser Communications From Space Station (nasa.gov) 40
SonicSpike shares a report from NASA: In 2023, NASA is sending a technology demonstration known as the Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) to the space station. Together, ILLUMA-T and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), which launched in December 2021, will complete NASA's first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system. With ILLUMA-T, NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office will demonstrate the power of laser communications from the space station. Using invisible infrared light, laser communications systems send and receive information at higher data rates. With higher data rates, missions can send more images and videos back to Earth in a single transmission. Once installed on the space station, ILLUMA-T will showcase the benefits higher data rates could have for missions in low Earth orbit.
"Laser communications offer missions more flexibility and an expedited way to get data back from space," said Badri Younes, former deputy associate administrator for NASA's SCaN program. "We are integrating this technology on demonstrations near Earth, at the Moon, and in deep space." In addition to higher data rates, laser systems are lighter and use less power -- a key benefit when designing spacecraft. ILLUMA-T is approximately the size of a standard refrigerator and will be secured to an external module on the space station to conduct its demonstration with LCRD. Currently, LCRD is showcasing the benefits of a laser relay in geosynchronous orbit -- 22,000 miles from Earth -- by beaming data between two ground stations and conducting experiments to further refine NASA's laser capabilities. "Once ILLUMA-T is on the space station, the terminal will send high-resolution data, including pictures and videos to LCRD at a rate of 1.2 gigabits-per-second," said Matt Magsamen, deputy project manager for ILLUMA-T. "Then, the data will be sent from LCRD to ground stations in Hawaii and California. This demonstration will show how laser communications can benefit missions in low Earth orbit."
ILLUMA-T is launching as a payload on SpaceX's 29th Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA. In the first two weeks after its launch, ILLUMA-T will be removed from the Dragon spacecraft's trunk for installation on the station's Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF), also known as "Kibo" -- meaning "hope" in Japanese. NASA's Laser Communications Roadmap. Following the payload's installation, the ILLUMA-T team will perform preliminary testing and in-orbit checkouts. Once completed, the team will make a pass for the payload's first light -- a critical milestone where the mission transmits its first beam of laser light through its optical telescope to LCRD. Once first light is achieved, data transmission and laser communications experiments will begin and continue throughout the duration of the planned mission.
"Laser communications offer missions more flexibility and an expedited way to get data back from space," said Badri Younes, former deputy associate administrator for NASA's SCaN program. "We are integrating this technology on demonstrations near Earth, at the Moon, and in deep space." In addition to higher data rates, laser systems are lighter and use less power -- a key benefit when designing spacecraft. ILLUMA-T is approximately the size of a standard refrigerator and will be secured to an external module on the space station to conduct its demonstration with LCRD. Currently, LCRD is showcasing the benefits of a laser relay in geosynchronous orbit -- 22,000 miles from Earth -- by beaming data between two ground stations and conducting experiments to further refine NASA's laser capabilities. "Once ILLUMA-T is on the space station, the terminal will send high-resolution data, including pictures and videos to LCRD at a rate of 1.2 gigabits-per-second," said Matt Magsamen, deputy project manager for ILLUMA-T. "Then, the data will be sent from LCRD to ground stations in Hawaii and California. This demonstration will show how laser communications can benefit missions in low Earth orbit."
ILLUMA-T is launching as a payload on SpaceX's 29th Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA. In the first two weeks after its launch, ILLUMA-T will be removed from the Dragon spacecraft's trunk for installation on the station's Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF), also known as "Kibo" -- meaning "hope" in Japanese. NASA's Laser Communications Roadmap. Following the payload's installation, the ILLUMA-T team will perform preliminary testing and in-orbit checkouts. Once completed, the team will make a pass for the payload's first light -- a critical milestone where the mission transmits its first beam of laser light through its optical telescope to LCRD. Once first light is achieved, data transmission and laser communications experiments will begin and continue throughout the duration of the planned mission.
Space porn (Score:3)
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Ask Marge Taylor Orange, she's the expert on space lasers.
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intended use (Score:3)
assuming that this is a real question, the answer is, to test out the technology in space for use in high data-rate downlinks from planetary probes.
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Are they, though? Are they?
Wait. This is new? (Score:2)
Only microwave antenna's (Score:1)
They work when it's clouded and lasers don't.
Downside of microwave antenna's is that if you put your head in the beam, it quickly heats up.
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Do people not get taught elementary spectroscopy in compulsory education these decades?
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Do people not get taught elementary spectroscopy in compulsory education these decades?
I'm afraid educators all have their have their head up a cloud.
Re: Wait. This is new? (Score:2)
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I know I was working with laser ring gyrocompasses for precision surveying of oil wells (including ones lined with steel pipe - which is why magnetic compasses were insufficient) in the late 1980s. They used lasers, and gave directional data, which maps fairly well to popular meanings of "compass".
If you used a laser beam and a couple of corner-cube reflectors to do a trigonometrical survey ... how would that improve your precision over the 18th century tele
Re: Wait. This is new? (Score:2)
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I vacillate between the absence of an edit function being a bug, or being a feature. IF I were defining a system myself, I'd ten towards "yes, you can edit, but your deletions, changes and insertions would be permanently displayed (several ways of doing that)".
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I concentrated too much on the spelling of "vacillate".
Sounds like an expensive way to do this⦠(Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m guessing this was planned before starling was a thing, but wow does it sound like a dumb way of doing it. Given that SpaceX are already selling a government/military version of the star link satellite bus to the US, youâ(TM)d expect them to just strap a star link system with its laser link to the space station.
Re: Sounds like an expensive way to do thisâ& (Score:3)
Re: Sounds like an expensive way to do thisâ (Score:2)
NASA is testing LEO to GSO. Thinking about it, I wonder if the goal here is actually to test shooting data very long distances for a future DSN upgrade rather than to provide a solid data link.
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If the goal was a solid data link,they'd not be testing to a single GEO satellite. There is no way that satellite is in view 100% of the time.
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LEO to GSO to Earth (and back), to be precise (they already did LEO to ground directly back in 2014). And yes, reading the article they're pretty explicit about wanting to use this for various space missions: part of the tests include using this one some lunar missions past and future.
Re:Sounds like an expensive way to do thisâ&# (Score:2)
Space to space has been demonstrated and used by satellites for some time. I believe the first test of it was between two European satellites in 2007.
I think that (Score:3)
Using invisible infrared ...
Ultraviolet is also "invisible" and will allow higher data rates and will penetrate mild cloud cover. All light until it is "invisible" until it is reflected/deflected off something, or one is staring directly at the light source. We see beams of light because air is dirty.
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UV is a poor choice [Re:I think that] (Score:5, Interesting)
Nobody bothers making UV adaptive optics, because the atmosphere is pretty much opaque to short UV, and the UV that does get through is highly scattered.
quick summery of atmospheric transparency here: https://www.usna.edu/Users/oce... [usna.edu]
Ultraviolet lasers are also much less efficient than NIR lasers, so it's a poor choice for data transmission all around.
This is not difficult to do (Score:2)
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If they remove ping latency (Score:1)
10-100 times faster (Score:3)
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I wonder if they still use UUCP and wait for the link to go up.
Have they forgotten LADEE? (Score:2)
NASA successfully demonstrated laser communications a decade ago on the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. That mission included the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) as a payload. They achieved over 600 Mbits/second from a lunar orbit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Missing element: SHARKS! (Score:1)
With space-suits!
EME communications (Score:2)
why SETI failed (Score:1)