Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 11, 2013 #1 Share Posted July 11, 2013 NASA's Opals to Beam Data From Space Via Laser PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will use the International Space Station to test a new communications technology that could dramatically improve spacecraft communications, enhance commercial missions and strengthen transmission of scientific data.The Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS), an optical technology demonstration experiment, could improve NASA's data rates for communications with future spacecraft by a factor of 10 to 100. OPALS has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. It is scheduled to launch to the space station later this year aboard a SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply capsule on the company's Falcon 9 rocket. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Grey Posted July 11, 2013 #2 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Finally - this needed to happen pretty bad. Weren't we still relying on radio waves to talk with our Mars rover? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 11, 2013 Author #3 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Finally - this needed to happen pretty bad. Weren't we still relying on radio waves to talk with our Mars rover? Yes, and we will continue to use radio waves to communicate with deep space probes for the foreseeable future. Laser communications may be the future but it is still in its infancy. Also radio is unaffected by cloud cover, most lasers are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now