NASA is taking its first steps towards a leap in space communications

Arabia Weather - Humanity constantly aspires to achieve its ambitions beyond known limits, as the major space institutions in the world expand to explore and expand the extent of their knowledge about the universe, and the desire of these major institutions also crosses the limits of exploration by expanding the World Wide Web until it includes our galaxy.

In this context, NASA presented the results of a unique experiment in a press release, where an encrypted data message was sent via a laser beam at an estimated distance of 16 million kilometers , a distance that is about 40 times farther than the distance of the Moon from the Earth. This optical transmission is considered The first of its kind across this distance.

Radio waves have traditionally been the means of communication with distant spacecraft, but the use of high light frequencies, such as near infrared, provides a significant increase in bandwidth, allowing a dramatic increase in data transfer speed.

This technology is an important step towards a future in which high-definition video messages can be sent at high speed to and from Mars without significant delay. Therefore, this experiment is considered a vital step towards developing the technology necessary to achieve this ambitious goal.

Successful first light test in space optical communications experiment

NASA has released a report on a successful test conducted by NASA within the framework of the Deep Space Optical Communications Experiment, known by the abbreviation "DSOC". This test is an important achievement that can be called "first light" in the context of this unique experiment.

Regarding this achievement, Trudy Curtis, Director of Technology Demonstrations , confirmed in a press release issued by NASA that what has been achieved represents one of the prominent pivotal points in the path of development of the optical communications experience in space, and she pointed out the importance of this achievement, which paves the way for improving high-speed communications. Higher data, allowing the transmission of accurate scientific information and high-definition images.

According to the report published on the Science Alert website, it shows that we all rely on similar technology embedded in optical fibers to improve the speed of our high-performance terrestrial communications, and this technology has been made suitable for use in deep space with the aim of improving current methods used to send information to Earth.

By using light in the infrared range in this experiment, engineers can efficiently transmit its waves through a laser beam, and although the speed of light's movement in general is not increased, it is regulated and limited to its dispersion in a narrow channel, and this has the advantage of saving much less energy. Compared to scattered radio waves, it is more difficult to interfere with.

Technical challenges in creating laser communications in space

To achieve this achievement requires encoding the data in the photons emitted by the laser, and this requires the use of complex tools to prepare and translate the information for transmission and understanding at the other end.

NASA faced another challenge in getting the system to adapt in real time to determine location. For example, in its recent test, laser photons took about 50 seconds to travel from the spacecraft to the telescope, both of which were traveling through space at the time.

The laser transmitter and receiver device used in this experiment is on board the "SAIC" vehicle, which is carrying out a two-year technical experimental mission heading towards the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and communication was successfully made with the Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California.

The "SAIC" vehicle is scheduled to continue flying around Mars, and tests will continue to be conducted to develop and improve the method of near-infrared laser communication, and to ensure its speed and reliability as required.

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Sources:

economictimes

aljazeera