NASA has disclosed that Earth has intercepted an enigmatic signal from the depths of space, originating from its recently dispatched spacecraft, “Psyche,” situated approximately 140 million miles away.
In October 2023, NASA embarked on a pioneering space mission, dispatching a spacecraft towards an asteroid known as ‘Psyche 16,’ believed to be primarily constructed of metal, a peculiarity within our solar system. This asteroid is positioned within the asteroid belt flanked by Mars and Jupiter.
Dubbed Psyche, in homage to the asteroid it’s destined for, this robotic explorer harbored an additional objective – to evaluate laser communications.
Psyche is armed with the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) system, devised to facilitate laser communication over expansive interstellar distances, promising significantly swifter connections compared to prevailing methods.
Despite Psyche predominantly employing radio frequency communication, the optical communications technology has showcased its prowess. In a notable accomplishment, the laser communications demonstration effectively relayed engineering data from over 140 million miles away, a distance 1.5 times the span between Earth and the sun, subsequent to engaging with Psyche’s radio frequency transmitter.
Moreover, DSOC seamlessly interfaced with Psyche’s radio transmitter, enabling the direct transmission of spacecraft information and engineering data back to Earth.
Meera Srinivasan, overseeing operations for the project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, elucidated that during a pass on April 8, they downlinked roughly 10 minutes of replicated spacecraft data. This duplicated data underwent transmission via laser communications, while the original Psyche data was routed to ground control using conventional radio-frequency communication channels on NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN). The aim was to gauge whether laser communications could match, if not surpass, traditional methods in performance.
NASA’s optical communications demonstration has validated its capacity to transmit test data at a maximum speed of 267 Mbps employing the flight laser transceiver’s near-infrared downlink laser, akin to broadband internet velocities. Nonetheless, due to the spacecraft’s increased distance, the data transmission rate has decreased.
During an assessment on April 8, the spacecraft proficiently relayed test data at a peak rate of 25 Mbps, surpassing the project’s objective of establishing that at least 1 Mbps was attainable at that distance.
As Psyche advances towards the Psyche 16 asteroid situated between Mars and Jupiter, reports indicate that it remains stable and in good health.
