
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.
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.
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