NASA’s Psyche Mission Achieves Milestone in Deep Space Optical Communications
NASA’s Psyche mission, launched in October 2023 to explore the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche, is utilizing its journey to test Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology. Recently, DSOC achieved a significant milestone by successfully transmitting engineering data from a distance of over 140 million miles back to Earth at a rate of 25 megabits per second.
This marks a leap forward in communication speed compared to conventional radio technology. While DSOC offers faster data transmission, its effectiveness is subject to weather conditions, unlike radio systems. Despite this, NASA sees DSOC as a promising advancement in space communication technology.