NASA launches its first laser satellite to improve communications on Earth

A pioneering NASA bidirectional laser communications satellite was successfully launched on December 7 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard an Atlas V.

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The liftoff took place at 10:19 UTC (05:19, in Peru) as part of a mission called STP-3 (Space Test Program-3) that included other payloads from the United States Space Force, reports the POT.

NASA’s LCRD (Laser Communications Relay Demonstration) system will harness the power of infrared light to send and receive information encoded in invisible laser beams from one place to another. Once in orbit, LCRD will demonstrate the benefits of using infrared lasers to communicate information from space.

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These benefits include increased data on a single downlink, as well as reduced size, weight, and power requirements for a communications system on a spacecraft.

Once the spacecraft reaches its destination in geosynchronous orbit, 33,000 kilometers above Earth’s surface, the LCRD will become NASA’s first bi-directional laser communications relay.

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Deshawn