Central Idea

NASA’s DSOC experiment onboarded to Psyche spacecraft, recently demonstrated successful transmission of data over near-infrared laser signals to Earth.
This technology addresses the challenge of transmitting vast amounts of data over long distances from spacecraft, moving at high speeds in deep space.

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC)

NASA’s DSOC experiment introduces near-infrared laser signals for spacecraft communication.
DSOC promises data rates at least 10 times faster than conventional radio communication systems, leading to enhanced data transfer rates, higher-resolution images, increased scientific data volume, and even real-time video streaming.
DSOC’s laser communication technology is comparable to how fiber optics revolutionized Earth-based telecommunications.

The Psyche spacecraft is the first to carry a DSOC transceiver, which will test high-bandwidth optical communication with Earth during its initial two years of travel to the asteroid belt.
DSOC’s successful “first light” milestone was reached when the transceiver locked onto a powerful laser beacon transmitted from NASA’s Table Mountain Facility in California.
Achieving high data rates relies on extremely precise pointing, which is akin to hitting a small target from a great distance while both are in motion.
This precision is necessary for the laser transceiver to track its target despite vibrations on the spacecraft.

The spacecraft must isolate the transceiver from vibrations to maintain precision.
As Earth and the spacecraft change positions during data transmission, DSOC systems adjust to ensure accurate pointing.
New signal-processing techniques are essential to extract information from weak laser signals transmitted across vast distances in space.