NASA receives laser beam from 10 million miles away. Here is everything you need to know

In what may be called an epoch-making event, a NASA spacecraft has transmitted a near-infrared laser nearly 10 million miles into space or about 40 times farther than the distance between the moon and the Earth. It was first fired from NASA's Psyche spacecraft and then sent back to the Hale Telescope at Caltech's Palomar Observatory in San Diego County.

'First light'

Described as a 'first light' by NASA, the laser transmission took place on November 14, 2023. Psyche’s laser transceiver is a cutting-edge instrument capable of sending and receiving near-infrared signals. It locked onto a powerful uplink laser sent from a telescope at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Wrightwood in California.

NASA said in a statement that "the first flight is a significant stepping stone toward increasing the amount of data that can be transmitted throughout the solar system." It also said that it has long been able to communicate with spacecraft using radio frequencies, but has never been able to send information using lasers from that far into space.

Higher-data-rate communications?

Trudy Kortes, NASA’s Director of Technology Demonstrations told Fox News, "Achieving first light is one of many critical DSOC milestones in the coming months, paving the way toward higher-data-rate communications capable of sending scientific information, high-definition imagery, and streaming video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars."

The experiment aims to demonstrate data transmission rates 10 to 100 times greater than the state-of-the-art radio frequency systems used by spacecraft today.

'May help robotic exploration missions'

NASA said that it will help future human and robotic exploration missions and support higher-resolution science instruments.

It also said that though both radio and near-infrared laser communications utilize electromagnetic waves to transmit data, near-infrared light packs the data into significantly tighter waves, enabling ground stations to receive more data.

FAQs:

Why is NASA's experiment on beaming near-infrared laser into space is significant?
The NASA experiment could pave the way toward higher-data-rate communications capable of sending scientific information, high-definition imagery, and streaming video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars.

What is NASA's 'first light' experiment?
A NASA spacecraft transmitted a near-infrared laser nearly 10 million miles into space or about 40 times farther than the distance between the moon and the Earth. It was first fired from NASA's Psyche spacecraft and then sent back to the Hale Telescope at Caltech's Palomar Observatory in San Diego County.