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NASA Funds Laser Communications Tech with Small Business


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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

An artist’s illustration of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, a silver and white spaceship with four solar panels, flying through space. A glowing red beam of light, representing laser communications, is seen projecting from the body of the spacecraft and travels off screen. The shadowed crater-filled surface of the Moon is shown behind the spacecraft. A dark grey space scene covered with subtle stars fills the background.
Artist’s rendering of the Optical Communications System bringing laser communications capabilities to the Moon aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft during Artemis II.
Credit: NASA

NASA is working with private industry partners and small businesses under Artemis to produce scalable, affordable, and advanced laser communications systems that could enable greater exploration and discovery beyond Earth for the benefit of all.

Laser, or optical, communications provide missions with increased data rates – meaning that missions using laser technology can send and receive more information in a single transmission compared with those using traditional radio waves. When a spacecraft uses laser communications to send information, infrared light packs the data into tighter waves so ground stations on Earth can receive more data at once. Laser communications systems can provide 10 to 100 times higher data rates than the radio systems used by space missions today.

As science instruments evolve to capture high-definition data, missions will need expedited ways to transmit information to Earth. It would take roughly nine weeks to transmit a complete map of Mars back to Earth with current radio frequency systems. With lasers, it would only take about nine days.

Advancing Laser Technologies

Through a small business collaboration, NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program funded the successful development of a new piece of laser technology. Developed by Fibertek Inc., the Basestation Optical Laser Terminal is a four-channel laser unit that could enable the transmission of high-power communications to the Moon during the Artemis II flight test. Artemis II will send a crew of four astronauts on a journey around the Moon and bring them back safely, paving the way for future long-term human exploration missions to the lunar surface, and eventually Mars.

Known as the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System, the Artemis II demonstration will use laser communications to transmit high-resolution images and video of the lunar region to two ground stations. One of the two ground stations, located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is the Low-Cost Optical Terminal.

An artist’s illustration of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, a silver and white spaceship with four solar panels, flying through space. A glowing red beam of light, representing laser communications, is seen projecting from the body of the spacecraft and travels off screen. The shadowed crater-filled surface of the Moon is shown behind the spacecraft. A dark grey space scene covered with subtle stars fills the background.
The Low-Cost Optical Terminal at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, uses commercial off-the-shelf or slightly modified hardware to reduce the expense of implementing laser communications technology.
Credit: NASA

In September 2023, Fibertek’s technology was integrated into NASA’s low-cost terminal ground station and successfully tested. NASA’s Low-Cost Optical Terminal is a telescope around 27 inches in diameter that is made of mostly commercial off-the-shelf parts. Using commercial components is more cost-effective than developing custom hardware and can also make an architecture scalable for replication. The Low-Cost Optical Terminal will serve as a template for future ground stations.

“Laser communications, focusing on direct-to-Earth links, is a maturing technology that is essential for NASA to meet its future communications capacity and navigation needs. As we mature any technology, establishing and supporting a healthy domestic supply chain is vital,” said Dr. Jason Mitchell, director of SCaN’s Advanced Communications and Navigation Technologies Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “American small businesses play a key role in that chain, and our engagement with Fibertek Inc. is an example of this process.”

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research Program funded the development of the Basestation Optical Laser Terminal. Through America’s Seed Fund, NASA provides small businesses with early-stage federal funding for innovative technologies to advance agency missions.

“NASA’s investment in the development of this technology is a win-win-win for the agency and Fibertek, as well as any other future system integrators or developers that want to use laser communications technology,” said Nang Pham, SCaN small business project manager at NASA Glenn.

As NASA prepares to send human’s back to the Moon for the first time in 50 years, new laser technologies will enable more efficient laser communications systems, expanding humanity’s knowledge of our Moon and what lies beyond.

For more information on laser communications technology, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/lasercomms/

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      NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is also exploring cosmic dawn, using its narrower but deeper view to study the early universe. By coupling Webb’s observations with Roman’s, scientists will generate a much more complete picture of this era.
      So far, Webb is finding more quasars than anticipated given their expected rarity and Webb’s small field of view. Roman’s zoomed-out view will help astronomers understand what’s going on by seeing how common quasars truly are, likely finding tens of thousands compared to the handful Webb may find.
      This view from the James Webb Space Telescope contains more than 20,000 galaxies. Researchers analyzed 117 galaxies that all existed approximately 900 million years after the big bang. They focused on 59 galaxies that lie in front of quasar J0100+2802, an active supermassive black hole that acts like a beacon, located at the center of the image above appearing tiny and pink with six prominent diffraction spikes. The team studied both the galaxies themselves and the illuminated gas surrounding them, which was lit up by the quasar’s bright light. The observation sheds light on how early galaxies cleared the “fog” around them, eventually leading to today’s clear and expansive views.NASA, ESA, CSA, Simon Lilly (ETH Zürich), Daichi Kashino (Nagoya University), Jorryt Matthee (ETH Zürich), Christina Eilers (MIT), Rob Simcoe (MIT), Rongmon Bordoloi (NCSU), Ruari Mackenzie (ETH Zürich); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Ruari Macken “With a stronger statistical sample, astronomers will be able to test a wide range of theories inspired by Webb observations,” Yung said.
      Peering back into the universe’s first few hundred million years with Roman’s wide-eyed view will also help scientists determine whether a certain type of galaxy (such as more massive ones) played a larger role in clearing the fog.
      “It could be that young galaxies kicked off the process, and then quasars finished the job,” Yung said. Seeing the size of the bubbles carved out of the fog will give scientists a major clue. “Galaxies would create huge clusters of bubbles around them, while quasars would create large, spherical ones. We need a big field of view like Roman’s to measure their extent, since in either case they’re likely up to millions of light-years wide –– often larger than Webb’s field of view.”
      Roman will work hand-in-hand with Webb to offer clues about how galaxies formed from the primordial gas that once filled the universe, and how their central supermassive black holes influenced galaxy and star formation. The observations will help uncover the cosmic daybreakers that illuminated our universe and ultimately made life on Earth possible.
      The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems, Inc in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
      Download high-resolution video and images from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
      By Ashley Balzer
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Media contact:
      Claire Andreoli
      claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      301-286-1940
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      Last Updated Jul 25, 2024 ContactAshley Balzerashley.m.balzer@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
      Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Active Galaxies Astrophysics Black Holes Galaxies Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Origin & Evolution of the Universe Science & Research Stars Supermassive Black Holes The Big Bang The Universe View the full article
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