Skip to main content

NASA Laser Breaks Space Communications Record By Shooting laser at Moon

 NASA has set a new record for communication in space, beaming information to and from a probe named LADEE that is currently flying around the moon 380,000 kilometers away. Aboard LADEE is the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD), which achieved super-fast download speeds of 622 megabits per second (Mbps) and an upload rate of 20 Mbps. In comparison, the internet at WIRED’s office in San Francisco gets download rates of 75 Mbps and uploads at 50 Mbps. NASA’s typical communications with the moon are about five times slower than what LLCD provided. Until now, NASA has used radio waves to communicate with its spacecraft out in the solar system. As a probe gets farther away, you need more power to transmit a signal. Earth-based receiving dishes have to be bigger, too, so that NASA’s most-distant probe, Voyager 1, relies on a 70-meter antenna to be heard. LLCD relies on three ground-based terminals at telescopes in New Mexico, California, and Spain to communicate.
The agency is currently interested in creating better laser-based communication relays. With a concentrated beam of light, a spacecraft could send data at much faster rates that could carry higher resolution images and transmit 3-D videos from deep space. Of course, the method is challenging because it requires very high precision. If the skinny laser beam doesn’t exactly hit its target over a ridiculously far dist ance, it will lead to dropped calls and no communication. LLCD also has a slower transmission rate when the moon is on the horizon — and the signal has to travel through a greater amount of interfering atmosphere — than when it is directly overhead.
LLCD is actually a precursor to a larger and even more capable project, the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), which will further test the technology and is expected to launch in 2017. One day, such communication systems could be part of a fast interplanetary internet that will beam data around the solar system.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

LG’s first flexible OLED phone due before the year is out

LG plans to launch a flexible OLED smartphone before the end of the year, the company’s VP of mobile has confirmed, though it’s unclear to what extent the work-in-progress handset will actually flex. The OLED panel in question is the handiwork of LG Display according to VP of LG mobile Yoon Bu-hyun, the WSJ  reports, with the proposed device set to launch sometime in Q4. LG Display’s work on flexible OLEDs has been underway for some time, though the company’s efforts have perhaps been overshadowed somewhat by rival Samsung’s YOUM development. Last year, according to a Korea Times report, LG Display was preparing for

Bing Apps for Windows 8 get major updates

Late least year, Microsoft rolled out a half dozen Bing Apps for Windows 8 users, each one focused on a specific category, such as travel and sports. The apps were designed to offer “immersive vertical experiences,” and now, about six months later, a big line of updates for them is being pushed out. Users can grab the updates now by heading into the Windows Store and selecting the updates notification.

How to fix black spot on Phone Screen!

An honest talk about how to fix the damaged Phone screens in a very short time.