NASA’s Psyche probe has achieved a significant milestone by successfully sending the first high-resolution video from deep space to Earth using a laser beam. The 15-second video, which features a kitten named Taters playing on a pillow, demonstrates revolutionary communication technology in space. This achievement opens the doors for recorded content to be broadcast in better quality.
The Psyche probe, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on October 13, is bound for the asteroid Psyche and carried out its first test of the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) instrument on December 11. The video successfully received a few days ago was sent with the ship, traveling at thousands of kilometers per hour and at a distance greater than 31 million kilometers from Earth. The signal took 101 seconds to reach our planet, transmitting data at an unprecedented bandwidth of 267mbs.
DSOC is the latest in a series of experiments in which NASA is using laser technology to change the way it communicates with its future assets in space. The instrument has the capacity to send between 10 and 100 times more information than commonly used radio waves.
NASA is focused on increasing bandwidth and improving technology for its communications, especially in future missions to both the Moon and interplanetary missions. These technological demonstrations will continue to increase and will open a new window so that not only scientists can improve their experiments but so that new generations on Earth can live and enjoy space exploration like never before.