NASA Achieves First Operational Deep Space Optical Communication
The NASA has achieved a technical milestone with long-term implications for space exploration. on November 14, 2023, the experiment Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) managed to establish its first operational connection (first light) to exchange "light bits" between the ship Psyche and a station on Earth when the probe was about 10 million miles (almost 16 million kilometers).
The test, coordinated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), consisted of the laser transceiver embarked on Psyche being hooked to a reference beam sent from the Table Mountain facility (California) and, from there, fine-tuning the pointing systems to maintain the link with the receiving telescope in Palomar.
The keys that explain why it matters:
In the words of those responsible for the agency's communications program, the jump is essential for scientific missions that "always want more" data, and for future human and robotic operations that depend on sending heavy information (high-resolution images or video).
The DSOC scheme combines equipment on the ship and equipment on the ground...