[Laser] NASA Laser Communications Relay Demonstration

[bernieS]

https://scitechdaily.com/nasas-laser-communications-relay-demonstration-bringing-optical-speeds-to-the-final-frontier/

NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration – Bringing Optical Speeds
to the Final Frontier

By Katherine Schauer, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center December 5, 2021

Space Test Program Satellite-6

Illustration of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Test Program
Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) with the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration
(LCRD) payload communicating data over infrared links. Credit: NASA

Our televisions and computer screens display news, movies, and shows in
high-definition, allowing viewers a clear and vibrant experience. Fiber
optic connections send laser light densely packed with data through cables
to bring these experiences to users.

NASA and commercial aerospace companies are applying similar technologies
to space communications, bringing optical speeds to the final frontier.
Free-space optical communications leverages recent advancements in
telecommunications to allow spacecraft to send high-resolution images and
videos over laser links.

“Free-space” refers to the absence of the insulated, fiber optic cables
that enable the terrestrial internet. Free-space laser communications flow
freely through the vacuum of space, however atmosphere poses unique
challenges to communications engineers.

NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) will send data to
and from ground stations and, eventually, in-space user missions over
laser links.


Experimental optical communications terminal hosted on the International
Space Station communicating with LCRD. Credit: NASA

“LCRD leverages the work done in the telecommunications industry for the
past several decades. We’re taking the concepts that they’ve created and
applying them to space,” said Russ Roder, product design lead for LCRD’s
optical module. “The trick is that we have to optimize the technology for
space.”

LCRD’s mission will be spent proving out the technology by testing laser
communications capabilities with experiments from NASA, other government
agencies, academia, and – in particular – the commercial aerospace
community. Industry-developed experiments will allow companies to test
their own technologies, software, and capabilities. NASA is providing
these opportunities to grow the body of knowledge surrounding laser
communications and promote its operational use.

While LCRD’s experimenter program will allow NASA and industry to test and
refine techniques, both the agency and the commercial sector have been
demonstrating and using laser communications for the past few decades.
LCRD Communicating Data

LCRD communicating data from the space station to Earth. Credit: NASA/Dave
Ryan

Generally, commercial efforts have been focused on developing
space-to-space laser systems for use in low-Earth orbit. Companies are
investing in satellite constellations which leverage laser communications
to provide global broadband coverage. Proposed constellations have several
hundred to thousands of satellites, creating an extensive in-space laser
communications network. Commercial constellations still largely rely on
radio frequency links to send data back to Earth. Whereas, LCRD uses
lasers for both in-space and direct-to-Earth communications.

While industry is focused on in-space optical communications to support
terrestrial users, NASA is demonstrating direct-to-Earth capability from
geosynchronous orbit to increase communications capabilities for future
missions. With laser communications onboard, missions will be able to
communicate more data in a single transmission than they could with
traditional radio frequency communications.

“The Earth’s atmosphere distorts laser beams due to turbulence.
Understanding these challenges are critical to enabling operational
optical communications relay capability,” said Jason Mitchell, Director of
the Advanced Communications and Navigation Technology division in the
Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program at NASA Headquarters.

With these two different yet complementary goals, NASA also is partnering
with industry to further refine laser communications hardware. In fact,
LCRD includes commercially designed and built components alongside custom,
NASA-developed systems. The optical module, which sends lasers to and from
the payload, was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lincoln Laboratory and built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland. However, multiple parts of LCRD came from companies
like L3Harris Technologies, SEAKR Engineering, Moog Inc., and the Sierra
Nevada Corporation. These include the telescope system, controller
electronics system, and space switching unit – all critical to LCRD
operations.
Low-Cost Optical Terminal (LCOT)

The Low-Cost Optical Terminal (LCOT). Credit: NASA

Additionally, NASA’s Low-Cost Optical Terminal (LCOT) will use commercial
off-the-shelf or slightly modified hardware to reduce expense and speed
implementation. NASA depends on a robust domestic space industry and hopes
these investments will allow the U.S. government to purchase future laser
communications hardware and services. This will decrease costs while
enabling more missions to use laser communications.

NASA is committed to fostering the growing space economy and the
commercial aerospace community to encourage technological innovation/
bring down costs for all users. This dedication extends to new
technologies and capabilities like laser communications systems.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Test Program Satellite-6
(STPSat-6), part of the Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission, will launch
on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket from the Cape Canaveral
Space Force Station in Florida no earlier than December 7, 2021. STP is
managed by the United States Space Force’s Space Systems Command.

LCRD is led by Goddard and in partnership with JPL and the MIT Lincoln
Laboratory. LCRD is funded through NASA’s Technology Demonstration
Missions program, part of the Space Technology Mission Directorate, and
the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program at NASA
Headquarters in Washington, D.C.