Optical Laser Could Soon Transmit Data from Mars to Earth in Five Minutes Flat
- Posted on September 27, 2011 at 1:00am by
Liz Klimas
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In a world where information is expected with the click of a mouse, the fact that data from space takes 90 minutes to reach laboratories on Earth in some cases is just not fast enough. According to a NASA, this amount of time “bottlenecks” the scientific return.
In an upgrade that NASA officials are likening to a switch from dial-up to broadband, the space agency announced it is beginning work on a demonstration, which will be ready in 2016, that uses high-tech optical laser systems to transmit more information at a faster speed.
Current communication between Earth and space uses radio frequency. An optical communications transmitter should be able to transmit data from Mars back to Earth in five minutes. The release has more:
“We want to take NASA’s communications capabilities to the next level,” said [Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD)] Principal Investigator Dave Israel, who is leading a multi-organizational team that includes NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. and Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. Although NASA has developed higher data-rate radio frequency systems, data-compression, and other techniques to boost the amount of data that its current systems can handle, the Agency’s capabilities will not keep pace with the projected data needs of advanced instruments and future human exploration, Israel added.
“Just as the home Internet user hit the wall with dial-up, NASA is approaching the limit of what its existing communications network can handle,” he said.
(Image: NASA)
The Register goes on to report:
The new laser-based system would allow 100Mbps data rates instead of 6Mbps.
The trial run of the new optical laser system will require a “payload” of telescopes, lasers, mirrors, detectors, a pointing-and-tracking system, control electronics, and two different types of modems to be bolted onto a commercial communications satellite. The specially equipped stations on the ground will test the transmission by encoding digital data and transmitting the information to the payload, which will then be relayed back to ground stations located in Southern California and Hawaii.
One of the modems bundled into the the payload is ideal for communicating with deep space missions, while the other supports a much higher bit-rate and can communicate with Earth-orbiting craft, including the International Space Station.
(Image: NASA)
The first successful back-and-forth communication via laser between Earth and space occurred in 2006.
[H/T Gizmodo]
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GeekTinker
Posted on September 29, 2011 at 1:17pm“You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon?…It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.” ~Han Solo
Obviously, NASA needs to do a little more research. ;)
Report Post »handsmcml
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 9:22pmThe speed of light is the limiting factor that the reporter did not mention. Data compression seems to be the subject of the report. Unless they have actually developed a neutrino laser, the time it takes to send a message to Mars will vary from 3 minutes to 22 minutes. The amount of data sent varies with the type of data sent. How long it takes to get to Mars would be the same, whether it is radio or laser. Don‘t you just love science reporters who don’t know science, but have a degree in journalism.
Report Post »Soul Leister
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:53pmOptical Laser Could Soon Transmit Data from Mars to Earth in Five Minutes Flat… what a bogus title for this article.
1. Communications presently is based on the speed of light (that is not going to increase any time soon (or earlier if you believe in relativity, loosely)…
2. The author clearly doesn’t realize bit rate is not the same as speed at which those bits travel… its pretty constant (speed of light)… it takes light about nine minutes to get to earth from the sun (guess how fast it is traveling… hint: the same speed electromagnetic signals travel at in a vacuum)… seeing as mars is closest to us briefly, when we are both on the same side of the sun, once every two years its still over 55 million kilometers and when its on the other side of the sun, well, that’s over 401 million kilometers away… not gonna make that comm shot in less than forty minutes (one way)… without changing the laws of physics and NASA is not gonna do that…ever… certainly not eluded to in this mis-titled article.
Report Post »Chi-Fawn
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:44pmWith this technology sending transmissions from Mars to Earth in five minutes shouldn’t we colonize Mars FIRST before trying to figure out if there is anything good to listen to from there?Now we are just going to have to do that so people can get their moneys worth
Report Post »AwakenedGiant
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 8:29amSamiamtwo
Report Post »What is your deal are you just arrogant, sarcastic or a gloom and doomer?
Very few posters get me to react, but you are especially jaded
Wanna solve the debt? Lets stop fighting over a shrinking PIE, and start growning the PIE. A rising tide floats all boats.
Evil_Conservative
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 12:34pmRight on. Space exploration creates jobs for engineers and scientists. What does it accomplish you might ask? Well for starters, many technologies spin off the space program. The tech mentioned here is telecommunications at its core. See AT&T, Verizon, et al.
Second and over the long, long term you have to realize that humans are rapidly outgrowing and overpopulating Earth. Unless you support Draconian population control the only solution is to expand outward. Meaning, space. Or more specifically other planets. Expensive and dangerous, sure, but what if there were very good reasons to go? Freedom to have kids / no population controls? Homesteading? Opportunity of the frontier? No Earth politics/war? Little or no regulations? No EPA? Precious metals strip mining? Environmentally hazardous manufacturing?
Report Post »Blazer951
Posted on May 8, 2012 at 2:18pmHey there fountain of wisdom, I’ve got a clue for you: When that tide rises, you make sure you are on a boat or have a life preserver, because if you don‘t you’re going to drown.
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 7:49amSorry gang, but I want my money back. Overtaxed for projects that are built on fantasy and science.
Maybe after we get the debt down we can later muck about to disprove more theories, eh?
Report Post »louise
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 7:12amI want one of those for Christmas
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 7:45amSorry but Santa‘s procurement office elves can’t afford the parts.
Report Post »tomloy
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 5:58amlaser communications! This is right out of sci fi! Now we need warp drive or hyperspace!
Report Post »ripvanwinkle
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 3:40amNot sure what the 5 minute metric means – must be referring to a reference image size. Speed of light is the speed of light. Mars is 36M to 250M miles away. Good stuff, too bad they don’t put this on airplanes first.
Report Post »rabbisb
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 4:11amSeems to me they figure they have to find a new audience for Obama since we can’t stand listening to him anymore…perhaps he’ll have better luck with little green men!
Report Post »Wringeaux
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 6:56amMetric time:
Report Post »http://www.bijlmakers.com/time/metric_time.htm
scout n ambush
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:53amWow that‘s something i would spend billions of tax dollars on it’s as important as giving 867 million to the wind farm in spain thanks fed gov’t glad you are looking out for our best intrests.
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:55am+sarcasm
Report Post »Via Dolorosa
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:30amOff topic – but why isn’t this site – or Cnn or Fox covering the “fireball” (meteor? comet? astroid?) that hit Argentina yesterday – killing one woman and injuring six others – leaving carnage everywhere. I can’t find hardly anyone that is covering it – and they have a photo of it coming in.
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=argentina+hit+one+woman+killed+six+injured&pbx=1&oq=argentina+hit+one+woman+killed+six+injured&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=47619l53079l2l53251l30l27l1l0l0l0l259l5097l0.13.13l27l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=15d8226b480c5dc5&biw=1014&bih=509
Also you can see a photo of it coming in at this link
Report Post »http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=argentina+hit+one+woman+killed+six+injured&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=47619l53079l2l53251l30l27l1l0l0l0l259l5097l0.13.13l27l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1014&bih=509&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=argentina+fireball+hit+one+woman+killed+six+injured&pbx=1&oq=argentina+fireball+hit+one+woman+killed+six+injured&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=38728l43982l0l44313l21l18l6l0l0l6l216l1921l0.8.4l12l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=a762a7fd955cc4a7&biw=1014&bih=509
GeekTinker
Posted on September 29, 2011 at 1:21pmHad that happened in the state of Missouri, I’d hope they would be checking the scene for signs of a meth lab. (Explosion + People Seeing Odd Lights In the Sky = ?)
Report Post »Captain Crunch
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 1:57amAl Gore invented this don’t you know?
Report Post »Cosmos102
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 1:35am“Change is the essential process of all existence.” – Spock, Star Trek
WARP SPEED!
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 7:51amBeam me up scotty there’s no intelligent life down here.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 1:13amOkay here is a question I have that screams at me from the very beginning of this mess:
Light from the sun takes, moving at the speed of light, about eight and a half minutes to reach us here on earth, with a distance of 98 million miles; mars is roughly three times the distance from the earth, how can it happen in just five minutes?
Report Post »Stonedage
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:01ammars is not 3x the distance it is only about 1/3 to 1/2 the distance ranging from 36 million to 54 million miles away from earth.
Report Post »Nick84
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:24amI’m assuming they are using either the mean distance from earth to mars, or the shortest distance. Obviously the distance between the two planets varies and there are times they are much closer to each other than the earth is to the sun.
Report Post »Nick84
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:27amActually, stonedage, the distance can go up to about 2.5 the distance of the earth to the sun when the planets are on opposite sides of the sun.
Report Post »El Pistoffo
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:46amLast time I checked, radio waves traveled at or near the speed of light.
Report Post »brickmoon
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 3:33amGood question, Snow. The story’s headline and lede are somewhat misleading.
The distance from the Earth to Mars can vary between about 3 light-minutes to 22 light-minutes. That means if you were on Mars and flashed a laser or a radio signal toward Earth right now, for example, it would take about 15 minutes to reach us. So far, we can’t get information or anything to travel faster than the speed of light. (well, neutrinos, maybe, according to a recent report)
What the article refers to is the RATE of the data being sent. In the case of this new system, it would be the equivalent of being able to download the information in a set of encyclopedias in the same amount of time that they can now only receive about one volume’s worth.
Report Post »1casawizard
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 1:09amKeep this info. under your hat. Bamster’ll give this technology to the Chinos
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