NASAs DSOC is composed of a flight laser transceiver connected to Psyche and a ground system that will send and receive laser signals. The laser transceiver includes both a near-infrared laser transmitter to send out high-rate information to Earth and a sensitive photon-counting cam to receive a laser beam sent out from Earth. The transmitter will deliver a regulated laser signal to DSOCs flight transceiver and serve as a beacon, or pointing referral, so that the returned laser beam can be precisely aimed back to Earth.
The flight laser transceiver and ground-based laser transmitter will require to point with fantastic accuracy. Mind will aim the flight transceiver in the instructions of Earth while autonomous systems on the flight transceiver helped by the Table Mountain uplink beacon laser will control the pointing of the downlink laser signal to Palomar Observatory.
NASAs Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment intends to pioneer making use of laser communications for transferring information from deep space. Transitioning from conventional radio waves to optical communications can enhance data bandwidth by 10 to 100 times. The technology demonstration includes devices in both area and Earth and is created to deal with difficulties postured by vast distances and the weakening of the laser photon signal. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASAs DSOC, releasing with the Psyche objective on October 12, looks for to change space interaction by transitioning from radio waves to laser interaction, guaranteeing enhanced data transmission capacities and paving the method for future sophisticated area missions.
Slated to release on October 12 with the Psyche mission (weather condition permitting), DSOC will show innovations making it possible for the agency to send greater information rates from deep space.
NASAs pioneering Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment will be the very first presentation of laser, or optical, interactions from as far as Mars. Releasing with NASAs Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid of the very same name on Thursday, October 12, DSOC will evaluate key innovations designed to make it possible for future missions to transmit denser science information and even stream video from the Red Planet.
NASAs DSOC is made up of a flight laser transceiver connected to Psyche and a ground system that will get and send laser signals. Clockwise from top left: the Psyche spacecraft with DSOC connected, flight laser transceiver, downlink ground station at Palomar, and downlink detector. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Here are 5 things to understand about this advanced technology demonstration:
1. DSOC is the very first time NASA will evaluate how lasers might increase information transmission from deep area.
Previously, NASA has used only radio waves to communicate with objectives that travel beyond the Moon. Similar to fiber optics replacing old telephone lines on Earth as demand for information grows, going from radio interactions to optical communications will allow increased information rates throughout the planetary system, with 10 to 100 times the capacity of state-of-the-art systems presently utilized by spacecraft. This will better allow future human and robotic exploration missions, in addition to supporting higher-resolution science instruments.
2. The tech demo involves devices both in area and on Earth.
The DSOC flight laser transceiver is an experiment connected to NASAs Psyche spacecraft, but Psyche relies on traditional radio communications for objective operations. The laser transceiver features both a near-infrared laser transmitter to send high-rate data to Earth and a sensitive photon-counting camera to get a laser beam sent from Earth. The transceiver is simply one part of the innovation presentation.
There is no dedicated infrastructure on Earth for deep space optical communications, so for the purposes of DSOC, two ground telescopes have actually been updated to communicate with the flight laser transceiver. NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will host the operations group, and a high-power near-infrared laser transmitter has been incorporated with the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory at JPLs Table Mountain center near Wrightwood, California. The transmitter will deliver a modulated laser signal to DSOCs flight transceiver and serve as a beacon, or pointing referral, so that the returned laser beam can be properly intended back to Earth.
Revealed here is an identical copy of the Deep Space Optical Communications, or DSOC, superconducting nanowire single-photon detector that is paired to the 200-inch (5.1-meter) Hale Telescope situated at Caltechs Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California. Constructed by the Microdevices Laboratory at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the detector is developed to get near-infrared laser signals from the DSOC flight transceiver traveling with NASAs Psyche objective in deep space as a part of the technology presentation. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Data sent from the flight transceiver will be collected by the 200-inch (5.1-meter) Hale Telescope at Caltechs Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, which has actually been equipped with an unique superconducting high-efficiency detector range.
3. DSOC will come across special obstacles.
DSOC is meant to demonstrate high-rate transmission of data of distances as much as 240 million miles (390 million kilometers)– more than two times the distance between the Sun and Earth– during the very first 2 years of Psyches six-year journey to the asteroid belt.
The further Psyche travels from our world, the fainter the laser photon signal will become, making it increasingly challenging to translate the data. As an additional difficulty, the photons will take longer to reach their location, producing a lag of over 20 minutes at the tech demos farthest range. Because the positions of Earth and the spacecraft will be constantly changing as the photons travel, the DSOC ground and flight systems will require to compensate, pointing to where the ground receiver (at Palomar) and flight transceiver (on Psyche) will be when the photons get here.
4. Cutting-edge technologies will collaborate to ensure the lasers are on target and high-bandwidth information is gotten from deep space.
The flight laser transceiver and ground-based laser transmitter will require to point with fantastic accuracy. Mind will intend the flight transceiver in the instructions of Earth while autonomous systems on the flight transceiver assisted by the Table Mountain uplink beacon laser will manage the pointing of the downlink laser signal to Palomar Observatory.
This is a close-up of the downlink detector prototype that was used to establish the detector connected to DSOCs receiving ground station at Palomar. It can spot a billion photons per second.
Integrated onto the Hale Telescope is a cryogenically cooled superconducting nanowire photon-counting range receiver, established by JPL. The instrument is equipped with high-speed electronics for recording the time of arrival of single photons so that the signal can be decoded. The DSOC team even established new signal-processing methods to squeeze information out of the weak laser signals that will have been sent over tens to hundreds of countless miles.
5. This is NASAs newest optical interactions project.
In 2013, NASAs Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration tested record-breaking uplink and downlink data rates in between Earth and the Moon. NASAs Laser Communications Relay Demonstration was released in 2021 to test high-bandwidth optical interactions relay capabilities from geostationary orbit so that spacecraft do not need a direct line of vision with Earth to interact. And last year, NASAs TeraByte InfraRed Delivery system downlinked the highest-ever information rate from a satellite in low-Earth orbit to a ground-based receiver.
DSOC is taking optical communications into deep space, paving the way for high-bandwidth communications beyond the Moon and 1,000 times farther than any optical communications test to date. If it is successful, the innovation might lead to high-data rate communications with streaming, high-definition imagery that will help support mankinds next giant leap: when NASA sends astronauts to Mars.
More About the Mission
DSOC is the most recent in a series of optical communication presentations funded by NASAs Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM) program and the agencys Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program. JPL, a department of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages DSOC for TDM within NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate and SCaN within the firms Space Operations Mission Directorate.
The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. JPL is accountable for the missions general management, system integration, engineering and test, and mission operations. Psyche is the 14th objective chosen as part of NASAs Discovery Program, managed by the agencys Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASAs Launch Services Program, based at the firms Kennedy Space Center, is managing the launch service. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, supplied the high-power solar electrical propulsion spacecraft chassis.
