The Potential of Laser Communication for Deep Space Exploration
In the strictly literal sense, radio waves are a fundamental part of our daily lives, serving as the basis for wireless communication systems that allow us to stay connected with each other over vast distances. However, when it comes to exploring space, traditional radio waves have some significant limitations. The longer an electromagnetic wavelength is, the less information it can carry every second. Unfortunately, radio waves are the longest of the electromagnetic spectrum and thus have the lowest carrying capacity.
In contrast, lasers that are used for deep space communication are in the near infrared region, making them comparably tiny and therefore allowing a much higher bandwidth. This means that an important communication from a nearby planet like Mars would take basically the same amount of time to physically reach Earth between 3 and 22 minutes depending on where the two planets are in their orbits. However, 10 to 100 times more information could be sent every second. A data package that would otherwise take days or months could instead be downloaded in a matter of hours.
The hardware necessary for laser communication is also lighter and more compact than comparable radio systems. This means that it's easier to fit onto a relatively small probe or rover without excessively increasing the fuel needed to escape Earth's gravity well. One problem with radio waves, however, is that they tend to spread as they're transmitted. This isn't a problem when you want them to go everywhere like with a television broadcast, but it means that the signal quickly becomes very weak once it travels any significant distance from its original source.
Unfortunately, almost everything in space is very far away, making it difficult for radio waves to communicate effectively over long distances. Laser communication, on the other hand, still needs to account for signal interference and distortion over long distances. However, a coherent beam of energy is going to maintain its strength for longer than radio waves. Think of it like the difference between a shotgun blast and a shot from a sniper rifle - the energy is more focused and it goes much farther.
Infrared lasers do have physical limitations that radio waves don't, however. They require far more precise aim and cannot travel through opaque objects. This isn't a major problem, seeing as space is mostly empty. But despite these challenges, researchers are making progress with laser communication technology.
Recently, NASA launched the Psyche Mission, a spacecraft bound for the asteroid 16 Psyche, which sits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The mission will also be an important test for the technology behind laser communication (LCC) as the Psyche spacecraft will encode its data and send it back to Earth using infrared lasers. In December 2023, from over 19 million miles away, the spacecraft sent back an ultra-high-definition video of an orange cat reportedly named Tater playing with the dot of a laser pointer.
The hope is that Psyche's DCK (Deep Communication System) will be able to send data back at 2 megabits per second even after it reaches its destination far beyond Mars, demonstrating the viability of laser communication even in the farthest reaches of the solar system. While the inner solar system may be the current target for LCC technology, researchers are optimistic about its potential to expand our reach into the outer planets and eventually to other star systems.
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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat kind of download speeds can you expect on the International Space Station what about on Mars well as you can imagine it's not great NASA communicates with its Rovers on Mars and all of its deep space probes using the NASA deep space Network or DSN which unfortunately has some pretty serious limitations due to being both based on radio waves and established in 1963 we'll see if you're still spry when you turn 60 to overcome these challenges NASA's jet propulsion laboratory is working on a new system called Deep Space Optical Communications or Doo which is a laser system that might just be a GameChanger for interplanetary communication and yes they've already used it to send a cat video before we get into that though let's talk about the old system that Doo needs to be better than in many ways the DSN is a scientific and Engineering Marvel it uses three antenna arrays in California Spain and Australia in order to ensure coverage of the entire sky and each array is located in a bull-shaped mountainous area to Shield it from as much radio interference as possible the DSN uses a small subset of relatively highfrequency radio waves that can easily Escape Earth's atmosphere rather than bouncing off the ionosphere and coming right back which can happen with lowf frequency radio waves like those used for AM radio radio waves being a form of electromagnetic radiation move at the speed of light so using lasers wouldn't really speed up communication in the strictly literal sense they would however massively increase efficiency and bandwidth the longer an electromagnetic wavelength is the less information it can carry every second unfortunately radio waves are the longest of the electromagnetic spectrum and thus have the lowest carrying capacity the lasers that deso will use are in the near infrared region making them comparably tiny and therefore allowing a much higher bandwidth this means that an important communication from a nearby Planet like Mars would take basically the same amount of time to physically reach Earth between 3 and 22 minutes depending on where the two planets are in their orbits but 10 to 100 times more information could be sent every second a data package that would otherwise take days or months could instead be downloaded in a matter of hours the hardware necessary to communicate via lasers is also lighter and more compact act than comparable Radio Systems meaning that it's easier to fit onto a relatively small probe or Rover without excessively increasing the fuel needed to escape Earth's gravity well you know another problem with radio waves is that they tend to spread as they're transmitted that's not a problem when you want them to go everywhere like with a television broadcast but it means that the signal quickly becomes very weak once it travels any significant distance from its original source and unfortunately almost everything in space is very very far away with lasers you still need to account for Signal interference and Distortion over long distances but a coherent beam of energy is going to maintain its strength for longer think of it like the difference between a shotgun blast and a shot from a sniper rifle the energy is more focused and it goes much farther but infrared lasers do have physical limitations that radio waves don't they require far more precise aim and much like visible light they can't travel through opaque objects that's not a major problem though seeing as space is mostly empty so when exactly will we be sending those cat videos and what kinds of speeds can we expect within our own solar system we'll tell you right after we thank the sponsor of this video Odo if you're looking to create a website but lack the technical expertise ODU is here to help building a website is quick and painless with odu's open- Source intuitive platform use simple yet comprehensive drag and drop elements to make an eye-catching and engaging page for your audience to interact with all with no coding experience required they've also recently introduced their own AI copywriter powered by chat gbt so if you find yourself at a loss of words you can let AI do the heavy lifting for you best of all odu's website e-commerce application is 100% free to use comes with unlimited hosting and they even pay for your domain name for the first year so visit the link below and start creating a website for free with ODU we might be able to send and receive laser Transmissions feline or otherwise from as far as our solar systems inner asteroid belt as soon as 2029 that's because we've actually been developing the technology needed to catch Mars telecommunications up to the 21st century for several decades scientists made their first major breakthrough with extraterrestrial laser Communications in 1968 when they proved that the surveyor 7 moonlander could detect lasers originating on Earth in 1995 the Japanese space agency was able to establish two-way laser communication with its ETF s 6 satellite at an astounding 1 megabit pers second by 2001 we had achieved laser communication between satellites and by 2013 NASA used lasers to send an image of the Mona Lisa to a satellite orbiting the moon the technology has progressed to the point where we can easily transmit data between Earth and low earth orbit at not just megabits but even many gigabits per second on October 13th 2023 NASA launched the psyche Mission a spacecraft Bound for the asteroid 16 psyche which sits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that mission will also be an important test for the technology behind dck as the psyche spacecraft will encode its data and send it back to Earth using infrared lasers the psyche Mission won't arrive at its destination until 2029 but it's already made one successful test of the new communication system on December 11th 2023 from over 19 Million Miles Away the spacecraft sent back an ultra highdefinition video of an orange cat reportedly named Tater playing with the dot of a laser pointer the hope is that psyche's dock will be able to send data back at 2 megabits per second even after it reaches its destination far beyond Mars demonstrating the viability of laser communication even in the farthest reaches of the solar system well the inner solar system for now but we're coming for you Neptune hey that was a techwick thanks for watching like follow And subscribe if you feel like it and check out our other videos like this one on the world's longest wireless internet range there may be lasers involved I I haven't seen it I don't knowwhat kind of download speeds can you expect on the International Space Station what about on Mars well as you can imagine it's not great NASA communicates with its Rovers on Mars and all of its deep space probes using the NASA deep space Network or DSN which unfortunately has some pretty serious limitations due to being both based on radio waves and established in 1963 we'll see if you're still spry when you turn 60 to overcome these challenges NASA's jet propulsion laboratory is working on a new system called Deep Space Optical Communications or Doo which is a laser system that might just be a GameChanger for interplanetary communication and yes they've already used it to send a cat video before we get into that though let's talk about the old system that Doo needs to be better than in many ways the DSN is a scientific and Engineering Marvel it uses three antenna arrays in California Spain and Australia in order to ensure coverage of the entire sky and each array is located in a bull-shaped mountainous area to Shield it from as much radio interference as possible the DSN uses a small subset of relatively highfrequency radio waves that can easily Escape Earth's atmosphere rather than bouncing off the ionosphere and coming right back which can happen with lowf frequency radio waves like those used for AM radio radio waves being a form of electromagnetic radiation move at the speed of light so using lasers wouldn't really speed up communication in the strictly literal sense they would however massively increase efficiency and bandwidth the longer an electromagnetic wavelength is the less information it can carry every second unfortunately radio waves are the longest of the electromagnetic spectrum and thus have the lowest carrying capacity the lasers that deso will use are in the near infrared region making them comparably tiny and therefore allowing a much higher bandwidth this means that an important communication from a nearby Planet like Mars would take basically the same amount of time to physically reach Earth between 3 and 22 minutes depending on where the two planets are in their orbits but 10 to 100 times more information could be sent every second a data package that would otherwise take days or months could instead be downloaded in a matter of hours the hardware necessary to communicate via lasers is also lighter and more compact act than comparable Radio Systems meaning that it's easier to fit onto a relatively small probe or Rover without excessively increasing the fuel needed to escape Earth's gravity well you know another problem with radio waves is that they tend to spread as they're transmitted that's not a problem when you want them to go everywhere like with a television broadcast but it means that the signal quickly becomes very weak once it travels any significant distance from its original source and unfortunately almost everything in space is very very far away with lasers you still need to account for Signal interference and Distortion over long distances but a coherent beam of energy is going to maintain its strength for longer think of it like the difference between a shotgun blast and a shot from a sniper rifle the energy is more focused and it goes much farther but infrared lasers do have physical limitations that radio waves don't they require far more precise aim and much like visible light they can't travel through opaque objects that's not a major problem though seeing as space is mostly empty so when exactly will we be sending those cat videos and what kinds of speeds can we expect within our own solar system we'll tell you right after we thank the sponsor of this video Odo if you're looking to create a website but lack the technical expertise ODU is here to help building a website is quick and painless with odu's open- Source intuitive platform use simple yet comprehensive drag and drop elements to make an eye-catching and engaging page for your audience to interact with all with no coding experience required they've also recently introduced their own AI copywriter powered by chat gbt so if you find yourself at a loss of words you can let AI do the heavy lifting for you best of all odu's website e-commerce application is 100% free to use comes with unlimited hosting and they even pay for your domain name for the first year so visit the link below and start creating a website for free with ODU we might be able to send and receive laser Transmissions feline or otherwise from as far as our solar systems inner asteroid belt as soon as 2029 that's because we've actually been developing the technology needed to catch Mars telecommunications up to the 21st century for several decades scientists made their first major breakthrough with extraterrestrial laser Communications in 1968 when they proved that the surveyor 7 moonlander could detect lasers originating on Earth in 1995 the Japanese space agency was able to establish two-way laser communication with its ETF s 6 satellite at an astounding 1 megabit pers second by 2001 we had achieved laser communication between satellites and by 2013 NASA used lasers to send an image of the Mona Lisa to a satellite orbiting the moon the technology has progressed to the point where we can easily transmit data between Earth and low earth orbit at not just megabits but even many gigabits per second on October 13th 2023 NASA launched the psyche Mission a spacecraft Bound for the asteroid 16 psyche which sits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that mission will also be an important test for the technology behind dck as the psyche spacecraft will encode its data and send it back to Earth using infrared lasers the psyche Mission won't arrive at its destination until 2029 but it's already made one successful test of the new communication system on December 11th 2023 from over 19 Million Miles Away the spacecraft sent back an ultra highdefinition video of an orange cat reportedly named Tater playing with the dot of a laser pointer the hope is that psyche's dock will be able to send data back at 2 megabits per second even after it reaches its destination far beyond Mars demonstrating the viability of laser communication even in the farthest reaches of the solar system well the inner solar system for now but we're coming for you Neptune hey that was a techwick thanks for watching like follow And subscribe if you feel like it and check out our other videos like this one on the world's longest wireless internet range there may be lasers involved I I haven't seen it I don't know\n"
