Scientists from NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory have successfully sent information back and forth from the moon to Earth for the first time using a two way laser. The system for sending the information is called the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration, which uses a spacecraft orbiting the moon to send lasers of internet from the moon to Earth and vice versa.
Scientists from NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory have successfully sent information back and forth from the moon to Earth for the first time using a two way laser.
The system for sending the information is called the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration, which uses a spacecraft orbiting the moon to send lasers of internet from the moon to Earth and vice versa.
"To begin data transmission, the space and ground terminals must first locate each other. This process begins when ground terminal scans LADEE's path to illuminate the spacecraft. LLCD senses the flash from the ground and points its beam back to the source. The ground terminal acquires the beam from space and establishes a communication link."
Records for information transfer speeds were broken using the laser system, which has proven to be much more effective than the previous radio frequency transmissions to and from space.
Laser transmission rates are capable of reaching speeds of 622 megabits per second, but environmental variables like the position of the sun, and atmospheric conditions affect the maximum speed that information can be sent or received from the moon.
The base of operations for the system is located in White Sands, New Mexico, where scientists beamed high definition videos to the moon in seconds.
They were also able to receive the entire one gigabyte science data cache from the spacecraft orbiting the moon in less than five minutes, something that would have taken three days to receive using a radio frequency transmission.
In the future, NASA could download finer images, hundreds of 3D HD video streams, and could even one day "enabled telepresence on the moon and beyond for human explorers still on earth."
