WASHINGTON - A NASA laser just fired successfully in a deep-space test. On Nov. 14, NASA picked up a laser signal fired from an instrument that launched with the Psyche spacecraft, which is currently more than 10 million miles (16 million kilometers) from Earth and heading toward a mysterious metal asteroid. (The spacecraft is at more than 40 times the average distance of Earth's moon, and still voyaging afar), Rahul Rao writes for Space.com. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
27 November 2023 - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) beamed its optical communication to the Hale Telescope situated at Caltech's Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California. This establishes a new record for the farthest-ever demonstration of optical communications.
DSOC is integrated into the recently launched Psyche spacecraft, designed to conduct a two-year technology demonstration as it journeys to the primary asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, both DSOC and Psyche collaborate to push the boundaries of space communication technology.
The flight laser transceiver, an advanced instrument on board Psyche with the capability to send and receive near-infrared signals, successfully synchronized with a powerful uplink laser beacon originating from the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory at JPL's Table Mountain Facility near Wrightwood, California. This uplink beacon served as a guide for the transceiver, enabling it to precisely direct its downlink laser back to Palomar Observatory.
Automated systems on both the transceiver and ground stations collaborated to fine-tune the pointing of the laser, marking a significant milestone in the DSOC experiment.
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
