An upcoming NASA mission will test a new laser communications system that could one day deliver high-definition 3D video signals from Mars and beyond.
The lunar laser communications demonstration will be part of the agency's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission, which is scheduled to launch on Sept. 6. The LADEE spacecraft will orbit the moon and collect information on the lunar atmosphere—technically an exosphere—for around 100 days. A laser communications module is built into the satellite.
"NASA has a need for faster download speeds for data from space and that grows everyday, just like it does for the rest of us at home and also from work," said Don Cornwell, mission manager for the lunar laser communications demonstration. He was speaking at a televised NASA news conference on Thursday.
"We'd like to be able to send high-resolution images and movies and 3D even from satellites that not only orbit the Earth but also from probes that will go to the moon and beyond. Communicating with radio waves has served us well for the last 50 years but we now have the technology to use light waves to communicate more data," he said.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon