On November 14, 2023, NASA's Psyche spacecraft successfully transmitted a laser-beamed message to Earth from a distance of nearly 10 million miles (16 million kilometers).
The message was sent using the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, which is a technology demonstration mission that is part of the Psyche spacecraft.
DSOC is designed to test the feasibility of using lasers to communicate with spacecraft in deep space.
The laser beam used to transmit the message is about 100 times thinner than a human hair, and it carries about 10 times more data than can be transmitted using radio waves.
The message was received by the Hale Telescope at the California Institute of Technology's Palomar Observatory in Pasadena, California.
The successful transmission of the laser-beamed message is a major milestone for NASA. It demonstrates that laser communications are a viable technology for future deep space missions.
It could allow us to send and receive high-definition video and other large data files from spacecraft that are millions of miles away from Earth.
The Psyche spacecraft is currently on its way to a metal asteroid called 16 Psyche. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the asteroid in 2026. DSOC will continue to test laser communications technology during the Psyche mission.