News from space: Psyche ship transmits data to Earth using lasers

NASA's experimental laser communications system, known as Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC), worked with the Psyche spacecraft. This system was used to transmit data over a distance of more than 140 million miles (226 million kilometres).

Here's What We Know

"Psyche has its own radio communication system, and DSOC was able to interact with it to send engineering data to Earth.

The test showed that DSOC can transmit data at a higher speed than expected, reaching an average speed of 25 Mbps. Laser systems can transmit more data 10-100 times faster than radio systems. On 8 April, the spacecraft managed to send approximately 10 minutes of duplicate data.

The potential benefits of laser communication systems include higher bandwidth, which is especially important for missions with complex scientific instruments that collect large amounts of data. Future space missions could use these technologies to communicate more effectively with Earth.

Source: Digital Trends