NASA scientists have successfully streamed a high-definition video via laser from deep space, nearly 19 million miles away from the Earth.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) recently announced that its Deep Space Optical Communications experiment had successfully transmitted a 15-second test video back to Earth via a flight laser transceiver. The video featured an orange cat tabby named Taters, the pet of a JPL employee, chasing a laser pointer with a test graphic overlaying the video, according to a press release.
The encoded video traveled in a “near-infrared laser” nearly 80 times the distance between Earth and the moon, reaching Earth in about 101 seconds at a maximum bit rate of 267 megabits per second and arriving at the Hale Telescope in San Diego, California. The video was then downloaded and each frame was sent “live” to the JPL to play.
“Despite transmitting from millions of miles away, it was able to send the video faster than most broadband internet connections,” said Ryan Rogalin, the project’s receiver electronics lead at JPL. “In fact, after receiving the video at Palomar, it was sent to JPL over the internet, and that connection was slower than the signal coming from deep space. JPL’s DesignLab did an amazing job helping us showcase this technology – everyone loves Taters.”
The technology was originally sent with NASA’s Psyche mission. Scientists believe that the laser communication system can operate 10 to 100 times the speed of the radio system used on current missions to deep space and that it could support an eventual manned mission to Mars.
“One of the goals is to demonstrate the ability to transmit broadband video across millions of miles. Nothing on Psyche generates video data, so we usually send packets of randomly generated test data,” said Bill Klipstein, project manager for the demo. “But to make this significant event more memorable, we decided to work with designers at JPL to create a fun video, which captures the essence of the demo as part of the Psyche mission.”
Scientists intend to continue testing the technology aboard Psyche, having it send information from as far away as Mars as the craft journeys to the asteroid that shares the same name as the spacecraft. The craft is expected to reach the asteroid, located between Mars and Jupiter, by 2029.
In a related accomplishment, NASA recently announced that its Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and its Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) had achieved their first communication in a milestone called “first light,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.