NASA’s Psyche Asteroid Probe Transmits Laser Data From 140 Million Miles Away, Breaks Space-to-Earth Data Speed Record

In a recent breakthrough, NASA has delivered engineering data between the Earth and a satellite in orbit at the highest rate ever attained. This success was achieved using laser communication technology.

Space Probe's Side Quest

In 2023, scientists from NASA finally pushed through with a highly anticipated space mission. They sent a spacecraft to an asteroid which is believed to be entirely made of metal, a property that happens very rare in the vicinity of our Solar System. The robotic probe is called Psyche, designed to explore a space rock known as 16 Psyche.

Aside from this mission, Psyche also aims to test a new technological breakthrough: laser communications. Riding aboard the spacecraft is NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration which continues to break records. Although the asteroid-bound Psyche does not depend on optical communications to transmit data, the novel technology has confirmed that it is up to the task.

After interfacing with the radio frequency transmitter of Psyche, the laser communications demo delivered a copy of engineering data from more than 140 million miles (226 million kilometers) away, about 1.5 times the distance between our planet and the Sun.

This success offers a glimpse into the potential of a spacecraft using optical communications in the future. It can also allow higher-data-rate communications of complex scientific data and high-definition imagery and video.

According to Jet Propulsion Laboratory project operations lead Meera Srinivasan, the team downlinked about 10 minutes of copied spacecraft data during its pass on April 8. Until then, they have been sending test and diagnostic information in their downlinks from Psyche. This represents an important milestone for the mission by demonstrating how optical communications can interface with the radio frequency communications system of a spacecraft.

In this demonstration, the laser communications technology is designed to send data from deep space at about 10 to 100 times faster than the current state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by deep space missions.

Potential of Laser Communication

After the launching of Psyche, the optical communications demonstration was initially used to downlink pre-loaded data, such as the Taters the cat video. Since then, the mission has confirmed that the transceiver can receive information from the high-power uplink laser at Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Table Mountain facility.

In a recent turnaround experiment, the project also proved that data can also be transmitted to the transceiver and then downlinked back to Earth on the same night. This experiment delivered test data and digital pet photographs to Psyche and back again through a round trip that took 280 million miles (450 million kilometers). It also downlinked huge amounts of the demonstration's own engineering data to explore the characteristics of the optical communications link.

According to JPL's project receiver electronics lead Ryan Rogalin, the team has learned a great deal about how far they can push the system when we have clear skies, although storms have sometimes interrupted operations at both Table Mountain and Palomar. Radio frequency communications can function in most weather conditions, but optical communications require relatively clear skies in order to transmit high-bandwidth data.