The Earth receives a laser communication emitted from nearly half a billion kilometers away

NASA has reached a new milestone in space exploration. A technological breakthrough promises to revolutionize how space missions communicate over long distances.

This summer, a successful test with the Psyche probe managed to send a laser signal over a record distance, marking a turning point for future interplanetary missions.


Space communication traditionally relies on radio frequencies. However, lasers offer a data transmission capacity up to one hundred times greater, thus revolutionizing data exchanges with space missions.

Last month, in this article, we introduced the Australian "TeraNet" project, which aims to create a laser network to develop ultra-fast space communications. Today, we are presenting a test conducted by NASA. This test was performed with the Psyche probe, which is equipped with a laser transceiver designed to communicate over unprecedented distances.

Two ground stations, one at the Palomar Observatory and the other at Table Mountain, facilitated this laser communication test. These stations are equipped with a seven-kilowatt laser. The first serves as a receiving station while the second sends signals to the probe.

The precision and efficiency of this technique have impressed researchers. Last year, we mentioned in this article that this probe had successfully streamed a video to Earth from a distance of 31 million kilometers (19.26 million miles). More recently, a second test allowed communication with Earth from a distance of 53 million kilometers (32.93 million miles), with a data rate of 267 megabits per second, demonstrating the superiority of lasers over radio systems.


Even more impressive: at even greater distances, the performance remained excellent. In June 2024, at 390 million kilometers (242 million miles) from Earth (roughly 2.5 times the Earth-Sun distance), Psyche maintained a stable rate of 6.25 megabits per second. Then, in July 2024, NASA confirmed a new record by sending a signal across a distance of 460 million kilometers (290 million miles). This performance paves the way for more ambitious missions in the future.

This breakthrough in space communications, characterized by the use of laser signals over unprecedented distances, promises to transform future exploration missions. Thanks to these advancements, high-speed data exchanges become feasible, significantly improving communications between Earth and spacecraft located hundreds of millions of kilometers away.


A new era of interplanetary discoveries now seems within reach, paving the way for more ambitious missions, including to Mars and beyond.