NASA has sent a "laser message" that traveled 10 million miles

NASA has reported a successful test of their new laser communication system. In this significant test, the Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) system, carried by a satellite, produced a laser beam that traveled approximately 9.9 million miles.

The US Space Agency believes this experiment could potentially revolutionize communication with spacecraft, thanks to a successfully achieved data transmission to and from the Moon using a laser. The recently launched Psyche probe, programmed with the DSOC to send and receive test data on Earth, played a crucial role in this study.

Trudy Kortes, Director of Technology Demonstrations at NASA, states, "This achievement is one of several key milestones in the upcoming months. It'll pave the way for higher bandwidth communication and the transmission of higher resolution scientific information, photos, and videos."

While this type of laser communication has been tested before, this is the first time such a large-scale experiment has been undertaken. The laser traversed roughly 40 times the distance between Earth and the Moon - approximately 9.9 million miles. The successful transmission and reception of a signal on Earth can be a boon for scientific development due to the potential for more efficient communication.

Currently, NASA uses radio waves for data transmission. However, laser beams could be a game-changer, as they can carry more data. This offers the potential for a data transmission speed up to 100 times faster than the current radio connection.

The critical phase of NASA's recent test lasted about 50 seconds, during which the Psyche signal reached Earth. That doesn't mean the work of the scientists is done. Once the space probe reaches a certain distance, transmitting a message to Earth will take approximately 20 minutes. Consequently, NASA still has a wealth of tasks to complete, anticipating when the object will move away from the Earth and dealing with the problem that communication becomes increasingly challenging as the distance the laser beam needs to cross increases.