NASA Psyche mission which includes a laser communications experiment, has achieved a significant milestone by beaming back a video to Earth from almost 19 million miles away (31 million kilometers). The short video features a cat named Taters and marks the first instance of NASA streaming a video from deep space using laser communication technology. This successful demonstration showcases the potential of advanced communication methods for future deep space missions.
In the ultra-high definition video, the playful orange tabby cat chases, of all things, the elusive red dot from a laser pointer as it moves across a couch.
The cat video was transmitted to Earth from a flight laser transceiver as part of the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment, or DSOC. The technology could one day be used to quickly transmit data, imagery and videos as humans push the limits of space exploration by venturing to places like Mars.
The 15-second video was encoded in a near-infrared laser and transmitted from NASA’s Psyche spacecraft to the Hale Telescope at the California Institute of Technology’s Palomar Observatory. The video was downloaded at the observatory on December 11, with each frame streamed live at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. NASA Psyche mission
At the time of transmission, the distance between the Psyche spacecraft and Hale was 80 times the distance between Earth and the moon. The laser took only 101 seconds to reach Earth.
This laser communication technology has the capability to send data at 10 to 100 times the speed of traditional radio wave systems used by NASA in other missions. The experiment aimed to test the sending and receiving of data to and from Earth using an invisible near-infrared laser, marking NASA’s most distant high-bandwidth laser communications experiment. NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy emphasized the significance of this accomplishment in advancing optical communications for future data transmission needs.