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NASA Infusing Fast Laser Communications On Space Missions
Space.com
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09/02/2025
NASA is speeding up communications in space with experiments aboard the International Space Station, Orion spacecraft and more.
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Category
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Tech
Transcript
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00:00
Have you ever tried to download a movie with slow internet?
00:03
It buffers and it takes forever.
00:05
Now imagine trying to download movies all the way from space.
00:09
The International Space Station's new terminal,
00:12
ALUMA-T,
00:13
will use laser communications
00:15
to demonstrate an enhanced way to transmit data.
00:18
In fact, ALUMA-T can transmit data
00:21
at a rate that would allow you to download a movie
00:23
in under a minute.
00:26
The process of sending and receiving spacecraft data
00:29
is known as space communications.
00:31
NASA is enhancing space communications capabilities
00:35
through the power of lasers.
00:37
Laser communications use higher data rates
00:40
to send an increased amount of science and exploration data
00:43
to Earth in a single transmission.
00:46
Historically, we've relied on radio frequency communications
00:49
to send and receive data from space.
00:52
With laser communications,
00:54
we are supplementing that method.
00:56
Laser communications can help NASA's science missions
00:59
send more information and data
01:01
that is vital to our understanding of our planet,
01:04
the solar system, and beyond.
01:07
To prove these groundbreaking capabilities,
01:10
NASA is infusing laser communications
01:12
into multiple missions.
01:16
One of these missions is a relay satellite known as LCRD.
01:21
LCRD launched in 2021
01:23
and is NASA's first-ever laser relay,
01:25
which will receive data from ALUMA-T on the space station.
01:30
Together, LCRD and ALUMA-T
01:32
are NASA's first-ever end-to-end laser relay system,
01:36
demonstrating the benefits of a laser communications system.
01:40
Laser terminals are ideal for missions like the space station
01:43
because they are typically smaller, lighter,
01:46
and more efficient than comparable radio systems.
01:50
In 2022, NASA launched another laser communications mission
01:54
called T-BIRD to demonstrate 200 gigabit per second data rates,
01:58
a record-setting rate for the agency.
02:01
T-BIRD is a small satellite.
02:02
It's only the size of a tissue box.
02:05
And soon, NASA will launch a laser terminal on Artemis II,
02:08
a crewed mission to the moon.
02:11
On board the Orion crew capsule,
02:13
the O2O system will send back high-resolution images
02:16
and video from the lunar region.
02:19
ALUMA-T, LCRD, T-BIRD, and O2O
02:22
are only the start of how laser communications
02:25
are paving the way for advancing our scientific discoveries.
02:30
NASA is infusing lasers to further advance
02:32
our communications capabilities
02:34
from the International Space Station today
02:36
and to deep space in the future.
02:48
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
02:50
California Institute of Technology
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