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Join NASA to Discuss High-Rate Laser Comms Demo, Space Station Science


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Join NASA to Discuss High-Rate Laser Comms Demo, Space Station Science

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NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen works on the Plant Habitat-03B Science Carrier, a space botany research device, in the International Space Station’s Harmony module.
NASA

NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 26, to discuss a laser communications system and new research to understand the interactions between weather on Earth and in space. The investigations are two of many research and technology experiments bound for the International Space Station next month aboard the agency’s SpaceX 29th commercial resupply services mission.

Audio of the media call will stream live at:

https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

Launch is targeted for no earlier than 10:01 p.m. EST Sunday, Nov. 5. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carried on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket, will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission will carry scientific research, technology demonstrations, crew supplies, and hardware to the space station to support its Expedition 70 crew, including NASA’s Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) and Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE).

To ask questions during the teleconference, media must RSVP no later than two hours before the event to Claire O’Shea at claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. The public can submit questions on social media using #AskNASA.

David Brady, associate program scientist for the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, will provide an overview of the research and technology launching aboard the Dragon spacecraft.

Other teleconference participants include:

  • Jason Mitchell, director for the Advanced Communications and Navigation Technologies Division in the Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Program, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
  • Glenn Jackson, acting project manager for ILLUMA-T, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
  • David Cheney, program executive for the Heliophysics Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
  • Jeff Forbes, deputy principal investigator for AWE, University of Colorado, Boulder

Once installed on the station’s exterior, ILLUMA-T aims to test high data rate laser communications from the space station to the agency’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration in geosynchronous orbit, which will relay the data to Earth. The system uses invisible infrared light to send and receive information at higher data rates than traditional radio frequency systems. Working together, ILLUMA-T and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration will complete NASA’s first two-way laser communications relay system.

Also installed on the station’s exterior, AWE will use an infrared imaging instrument to measure the characteristics, distribution, and movement of atmospheric gravity waves, which roll through the Earth’s atmosphere when air is disturbed. Researchers also will look at how atmospheric gravity waves contribute to space weather, which affects space-based and ground-based communications, navigation, and tracking systems. Increased insight into atmospheric gravity waves could improve understanding of Earth’s atmosphere, weather, and climate and development of ways to mitigate the effects of space weather. 

Goddard manages ILLUMA-T in partnership with Johnson and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory for SCaN. As a Mission of Opportunity, AWE is under NASA’s Heliophysics Explorers Program. The program is managed by Goddard for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.

The International Space Station continues to advance scientific knowledge in Earth, space, physical, and biological sciences for the benefit of people living on our home planet. The station also is the world’s leading laboratory where researchers conduct cutting-edge research and technology development that will enable human and robotic exploration of destinations beyond low Earth orbit, including the Moon and Mars.  

Learn more about the space station, including research and technology at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

News Media Contacts

Julian Coltre / Lora Bleacher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov / lora.v.bleacher@nasa.gov

Stephanie Plucinsky
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-876-2468
stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

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Oct 20, 2023
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Claire A. O'Shea

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      Two papers (Wolff et al. and Su et. al.) from the Arizona team will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
      The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
      The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, Colorado, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
      Explore More:

      Finding Planetary Construction Zones


      The science paper by Schuyler Wolff et al., PDF (3.24 MB)


      The science paper by Kate Su et al., PDF (2.10 MB)

      Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Facebook logo @NASAWebb @NASAWebb Instagram logo @NASAWebb Media Contacts:
      Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov), Laura Betz (laura.e.betz@nasa.gov)
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
      Ray Villard, Christine Pulliam
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD
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      Last Updated Nov 01, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
      Astrophysics Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Stars Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble and Webb
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