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2024-04-30 14:41:00
While on your way to the main target, the asteroid Psyche, to the probe from NASA with the same name tests one new way of communicating with the earth: the laser.
And this week, the American Space Agency reported that it did the record for receiving a message 226 million kilometers from our planet, a way to revolutionize space communication as they can reach further and faster than radio waves.
Unlike its predecessors, which are even further awaylike Voyager 1 and 2Juno and others, Psyche is the one first ship equipped with a laser transceiveran optical communication system called Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) or Deep Space Optical Communication System. All this, in addition to a traditional radio antenna.
In general, information is sent through radio waves, since that is the traditional way. For example, the messages sent by the probe Voyager-1which is currently more than 24,000 million kilometers, it takes 22.5 hours to get there and many others to leave the earth.
Scientists have said several times that something faster is needed, especially when thinking about a future of manned missions to distant worlds, so they are exploring ways to send a message via laser.
DSOC can transmit data much faster than a radio frequency antenna using a near-infrared laser. It’s not that the laser travels faster (light always travels at 300,000 kilometers per second), but it has a bandwidth between 10 and 100 times greatertherefore You can send and receive more data in less time.
In addition to visiting an asteroid, the Psyche probe has other very relevant secondary missions for the future. One of them is to test DSOC technology. Last November, NASA managed to send an infrared message when the spacecraft was at 16 million kilometers awaywhich was a record.
That message only contained information about the ship’s position. However, the US space agency outdid itself in its next experiment. What it did was send a 15-second HD video clip to Earth when Psyche was already 30 million kilometers away. Most surprising of all was the content: a kitten playing with a laser pointer.
On April 8, 2024, the Psyche probe was already 226 million kilometers from Earthi.e. outside the orbit of Mars and at a distance corresponding to 1.5 times that which separates our planet from the Sun, while there is still more than 5 years of travel left until the meeting with the asteroid in question.
On the point, NASA decided to go one step further and transmit 10 minutes of data to our planet, as confirmed Meera Srinivasan, project operations manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). “This is a very important milestone for the project, as it shows how optical communications can interact with the radio frequency communications system of a spacecraft,” Srinivasan said.
In addition, he emphasized that the experiment is a big step for enable the transfer of complex scientific information, high resolution images and videos. Which will be key when the time comes to send humans to Mars.
Communication for the assignments of NASA in deep space is powered by the Deep Space Network, a network of antennas in three locations around the world that primarily use radio. But Laser communication can offer 10 to 100 times more bandwidth, Therefore, NASA wants to experiment with the use of this technology in situations such as the transmission of scientific data.
The DSOC experiment will continue for another two years, primarily using test data, but potentially sending data from the Psyche spacecraft. The ship is also equipped with traditional radio communication, so this would be a pure functional test.
“Optical communications are a boon to scientists and researchers who always want more from their space missions and will enable human exploration of space. More data means more discoveries,” said Jason Mitchell, director of the Advanced Communications and Navigation Technologies Division of NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) programme.
Usually, information, both on and off Earth, is sent via radio waves. The information, whatever its type, is converted into an electrical signal through a transducer and then that signal is transformed into radio waves, which are capable of traveling in all directions through space without the need for cables. This has allowed communication with space for decades, but it also has some obstacles.
Lasers use medium frequency infrared radiation, with wavelengths short enough to carry a lot of information at once. This is because data can be loaded into each of the oscillations of the wave. If the length is low, there will be more oscillations in the same space and more information can be loaded.
Furthermore, since the photon beam is aimed at a specific point, the information is not lost in all directions and can travel faster. In particular, it is estimated that sending a message via laser would be between 10 and 100 times faster than radio waves.
The main goal of the Psyche probe, which was launched into space by NASA on October 13, 2023, is to study asteroid that gives it its name and revolves around the sun in one position between Mars and Jupiter.
this body It has become famous for the materials it contains. In total, it is estimated that the value will be equivalent to 10 trillion dollars, that is, higher than the current world economy as a whole.
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