The Psychè probe, which took off on October 13 to reach an asteroid located 3.6 billion kilometers away, is taking advantage of this long journey to test laser communication technology up to 100 times faster than current radio transmissions used by deep space missions. Called DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications), this NASA device has just broken a distance record, by sending a message 226 million kilometers away from Earth on April 8.
A previous transmission carried out last November was carried out 16 million kilometers away. In December, ultra HD video of a cat playing with a laser pointer traveled 31 million kilometers.
“ We transmitted about 10 minutes of duplicate data from the spacecraft during a pass on April 8 “, explains Meera Srinivasan, project operations manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “ Until then, we were sending test and diagnostic data in our downlinks from Psyche. This represents an important milestone for the project in showing how optical communications can interface with a spacecraft’s radio frequency communications system. »
NASA prepares human exploration of Mars
During the April 8 test, Psychè transmitted data at a maximum rate of 25 Mbit/s. The American space agency specifies that this is much higher than the initial objective of reaching at least 1 Mbit/s at this distance. The DSOC test will take place over the first two years of the Psyche mission’s journey, which is due to reach its destination in 2029. NASA experts hope to achieve successful transmissions up to 390 million kilometers away.
By enabling high-speed communications of complex information, high-definition images and video, this technology will play a crucial role during human missions to Mars.
What do we know about Psyche?
Psyche lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid orbits the Sun at an average distance of 450 million kilometers. It is One of nine metallic asteroids detected in our solar system.
Scientists don’t know exactly what Psyche looks like. But they were able to determine that it has an irregular shape, a high density and a very imposing size (279 x 232 x 189 km) thanks to the radiation emitted by the asteroid that terrestrial radars and telescopes were able to capture. One of the currently prevailing hypotheses is that this primitive asteroid may be the remnant core of a rocky protoplanet that never formed. Psyche may have been struck by other celestial bodies which tore away her envelope, revealing her metallic heart. Mars, Mercury, Venus and Earth contain a metallic core. Exploring Psyche can reveal crucial information about the origins of these planets.
