Deep Space Optical Communications technology (DSOC) from NASA has completed a two-year demonstration, exceeding all technical goals and proving the feasibility of using laser communication for future deep space missions, including manned flights to Mars.
Experiment, integrated on board the Psyche apparatus, showed, that data transmission using lasers is possible over long distances, commensurate with Martian ones. During the final, 65-th session in 2025 year, the signal was successfully transmitted and received from a distance 218 million miles.
Records and achievements
Already a month after the launch in 2023 year, the system established the first stable communication channel. In December of the same year, DSOC made a historic broadcast of Ultra-HD video from a distance of more than 19 million miles at speed 267 Mbps. In December 2024 year, a record was set - data transmission from a distance 307 million miles, which exceeds the average distance from Earth to Mars. In general, ground stations received 13,6 terabytes of data.
How the system works
DSOC includes the laser terminal on the Psyche spacecraft and ground stations in California. A 3-kilowatt laser beacon from the Table Mountain complex is used for guidance, which allows you to precisely direct the transmitter to the Earth. The signals were received using the Palomar Observatory Large Telescope and the Deep Space Network Experimental Hybrid Antenna at Goldstone.
Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the project became the most successful demonstration of optical communications in deep space, confirming the technology's potential for high-speed transmission of scientific data and video from future missions.
Source: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov