Psyche Spacecraft sends laser message from 140 million miles away, setting the stage for future Mars missions
The laser message was sent by NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which is currently 140 million miles from Earth, about 1.5 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. NASA suggests that this impressive achievement could open the door for future missions to Mars.
“This achievement provides a glimpse into how spacecraft could use optical communications in the future, enabling higher-data-rate communications of complex scientific information as well as high-definition imagery and video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars,” the space agency explained.
NASA aimed to demonstrate that laser communications could work over vast distances in space, providing high bandwidth and much faster connections—10 to 100 times faster than what’s currently available—between people and the spacecraft they send into the cosmos.
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