NASA’s Deep Space Optical Comm Demo Sends, Receives First Data

NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment has sent and received data for the first time. DSOC is NASA’s first demonstration of optical communications from deep space. It’s a technology demonstration that tests key technologies that may be used in future missions.

DSOC sent a near-infrared laser encoded with test data from nearly 10 million miles. The experiment has achieved “first light,” which is one of many critical milestones for DSOC. This milestone paves the way toward higher-data-rate communications.

The current hardware for DSOC includes:

1 m ground transmit
5 m ground receive
22 cm spacecraft telescope

The uplink is expected to reach 292 kbit/s at a distance of 0.4 AU, with the downlink reaching 100 Mbit/s at the same distance.

DSOC is managed by JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California( source google)

Deep space optical communication uses lasers in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The technology involves:

Transmitting a laser beacon from Earth
Acquiring and tracking the laser beam
Pointing the laser beam back down

Optical communication is an alternative to radio communication because it can transmit more data. This could enable new types of missions and maximize scientific return.

Space communications generally use two components: a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter encodes a message onto electromagnetic waves. The waves then travel through space to the receiver.

The DSOC Ops Center 1550 nm Downlink has a maximum rate of 267 Mb/s. NASA’s goal is to increase data rates by 10 to 100 times without increasing mission burden.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has a maximum data rate of 5.2 megabits per second (Mbps). The MRO takes 7.5 hours to transmit all of its onboard recorder, and 1.5 hours to send a single HiRISE image.

Commercially-available Free-Space Optical (FSO) networks have data rates ranging from 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps. High-end prototypes have capacities as high as 160 Gbps( source google)

Deep space optical communication has several advantages over radio frequency communication:

Bandwidth: Optical communication can transmit signals with a much larger bandwidth.
Beam divergence: Deep space optical communication has a 100-fold improvement in beam divergence.
Data rate: Optical communication can provide a 1,000-fold increase in data rate.
Security: Optical communication is more secure.
Size: Optical communication can deliver high bitrates with a significantly reduced aperture size.

Other advantages of optical communication include:

Lighter
More flexible
Low-cost set-up and operation
Resistance to signal interception
License- and regulation-free use

Some challenges of optical communication include:

Precise laser beam accuracy
Earth’s atmosphere interference, such as clouds

Deep space communication is communication that takes place outside of Earth’s orbit. It’s a vital part of space exploration because it allows for the tracking and control of rovers, and the receipt of information from spacecraft.

Space communication systems involve at least one spacecraft and one ground station. The ground station receives orders from Earth, and the spacecraft sends data to Earth. The spacecraft can also send or receive information from other satellites.

NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) is a collection of large radio antennas that support interplanetary spacecraft missions. The DSN receives information about the location and status of spacecraft.

Deep space is the area of space that’s beyond Earth’s atmosphere and the Earth-Moon system. It’s also the space beyond the gravitational influence of Earth, which includes interplanetary, interstellar, and intergalactic space.

The International Telecommunication Union defines deep space as starting at a distance of 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Earth’s surface. This is about five times the Moon’s orbital distance. NASA’s Deep Space Network has used criteria of 16,000 to 32,000 kilometers from Earth.

Synonyms for deep space include:

Celestial spaces, Cosmic space, Cosmos, Intercosmic space, Intergalactic space, Interplanetary space.

Space” is a three-dimensional continuum that contains positions and directions.It’s also the unlimited expanse in which all material objects are located.

“Deep space” is the area of space that’s beyond the Earth-Moon system. It’s also the space beyond the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars). The United States government defines deep space as the region of space beyond low-Earth orbit, including cislunar space.

“Outer space” refers to the space beyond the Earth’s outer atmosphere. It’s also the universe seen as one

As of June 2023, humans have not traveled beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 lunar mission in 1972. There are currently no manned flights into deep space.

The first person to enter space was Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. His flight lasted 108 minutes and orbited Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour. In 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon.

The only body that manned spacecraft has landed on is the Moon. The furthest distance that anyone has been is in orbit over the far side of the Moon.

Only rigorously tested humans have experienced the conditions of space. Humans have begun to live and work outside the Earth’s atmosphere, often conducting experiments on themselves to determine the effects of weightlessness on the human body

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to travel into space. On April 12, 1961, Gagarin orbited Earth for 108 minutes in the Russian Vostok 1 spacecraft. Gagarin was a Soviet cosmonaut and pilot who was born on March 9, 1934. He died on March 27, 1968.

Gagarin’s capsule didn’t have a recovery system to safely land him, so he bailed out at a few thousand feet and landed by parachute. The reentry of Vostok was controlled by a computer.

Other firsts in space include: