Washington, November 21st : , The US space agency NASA has announced that it is ready for the next era in laser services after two-year delays. NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration is available for launch on December 4.The rocket will take it to orbit on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V-551 rocket, which is located at Space Launch Complex 41 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (Florida).
LCRD will highlight the extraordinary capabilities of optical communication to increase bandwidth and communicate in space, while reducing weight and power.
LCRD will be flown as a payload aboard Space Test Programme Satellite-6, the primary satellitecraft of Space Test Programme 3 for the Department of Defense.
NASA’s first ever end-to-end laser relay network, the LCRD sends and receives data via invisible infrared lasers at a speed of approximately 1.2 gigabits per sec from geosynchronous orbit to Earth.
Laser communications systems offer future missions unprecedented data capability, with data rates that are 10 to 100x higher than radio frequency systems.
NASA stated that engineers will transmit data to LCRDs and optical ground stations in Table Mountain (California) and Haleakala (Hawaii), once the satellite is positioned over 22,000 miles above Earth.
The transmission process will be refined, different operating scenarios studied, and tracking systems perfected through experiments.
Launch of the mission was delayed by numerous problems since its initial goal of 2019, which had been set for 2019.Investigators say the launch was delayed due to numerous issues since the original target of 2019.
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