This is really bad.
laser eye
NASA was receiving data with laser beams from millions of miles away, and it was a message sent by NASA itself.
in press releaseThe NASA-funded Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology announced that it has achieved “first light” laser communication through its Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment. The experiment was launched last month aboard the Psyche spacecraft, which is currently heading toward the asteroid belt. between Mars and Jupiter.
The main focus of this experiment is to see how feasible optical communication, or data transmitted via optical communication, is. unusual laser beam, that could be the case as we as a species properly enter the era of space travel. And by all accounts, it was a huge success.
From about 10 million miles away, Psyche was able to receive uplink laser beacons transmitted by JPL’s special telescope. table mountain facilities It is located in the snow-capped mountains surrounding Los Angeles. A light beam device aboard Psyche was then able to beam the laser back to California Institute of Technology’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, about 100 miles south of the source.
mission success
The experiment involved many moving parts, including making sure the transmitter, which was clearly just test data, did not interfere with Psyche as it traveled deep into the solar system. And NASA seems to have figured that out too.
”[This] “This test was the first to fully incorporate ground assets and flight transceivers, and required the DSOC and Psyche operations teams to work together,” said Meera Srinivasan, DSOC Operations Director at JPL. stated in the latest information. There is still a lot to do, but we were able to send, receive, and decode some data, albeit briefly. ”
This first feat of light is pretty cool in itself, but it also has huge implications for the future of human space travel.
“Achieving first light is one of many important milestones for DSOC in the coming months,” Trudy Cortez, director of NASA DC Headquarters, said in a press release. “This paves the way for high-speed data transmission.” , high-resolution imagery, and streaming video will support humanity’s next big leap: sending humans to Mars. ”
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