The Earth receives its first laser beam transmission from a distance of 16 million kilometers.

Phoning home becomes becomes increasingly difficult as we venture further into space. Even India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission, despite its relatively close proximity to Earth, relied on computer simulations instead of a live feed of its landing.

Much of this is due to our reliance on radio waves for space communication poses a significant challenge. While radio waves are somewhat reliable, it is difficult for them to carry as much data as other types of emissions.

NASA‘s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment has made a major breakthrough in this area. Travelling on NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, the experiment successfully transmitted data via a near-infrared laser to Earth from a distance of 16 million kilometres — 40 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

This achievement marks the first time such capabilities have been demonstrated with near-infrared emissions. Laser beams offer a distinct advantage over radio waves: they can transmit vastly more data at significantly higher speeds. In fact, the DSOC technology aims to achieve transmission rates 10 to 100 times greater than current top radio communication systems.

This breakthrough will enable us to transmit immense amounts of information about the cosmos and facilitate the development of next-generation space satellites capable of capturing higher-resolution data. Faster communication speeds would also allow for live video streams from the surface of Mars, providing real-time glimpses of the Red Planet’s landscapes.

Despite these advancements, there are still challenges to overcome. Precisely aligning laser beams becomes increasingly difficult over long distances, requiring effective calibration between space and ground satellites. Additionally, signal weakening as the laser beam travels introduces delays in communication.

During the November 14 test, it took approximately 50 seconds for the data-carrying photons to travel from Psyche to Earth. When Psyche reaches its farthest point, this delay will extend to around 20 minutes. To compensate for these shifts, real-time adjustments must be made to both the ground-based and spacecraft-based lasers to ensure uninterrupted communication.

This was the first test to fully incorporate the ground assets and flight transceiver, requiring the DSOC and Psyche operations teams to work in tandem, explains Meera Srinivasan, operations lead for DSOC at JPL. “It was a formidable challenge, and we have a lot more work to do, but for a short time, we were able to transmit, receive, and decode some data.”

The DSOC experiment is a significant step forward in space communication, paving the way for faster, more reliable data transmission from deep space.