Laser Communication System Sets Record With Data Transmissions From Moon

sighted writes "NASA reports that it has used a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over the 384,633 kilometers (239,000 miles) between the Moon and the Earth at a transfer rate of 622 megabits per second. The transmissions took place between a ground station in New Mexico and the LADEE robotic spacecraft now orbiting the moon. 'LLCD is NASA's first system for two-way communication using a laser instead of radio waves. It also has demonstrated an error-free data upload rate of 20 Mbps transmitted from the primary ground station in New Mexico to the spacecraft currently orbiting the moon. ... LLCD is a short-duration experiment and the precursor to NASA's long-duration demonstration, the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD). LCRD is a part of the agency's Technology Demonstration Missions Program, which is working to develop crosscutting technology capable of operating in the rigors of space. It is scheduled to launch in 2017.'"

Comments

20 mb between planets..

[lol_juice]

Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Montreal, Canada, you may be lucky to get a 20 kb/s connection on an "ADSL" modem.

Your Verizon bill is now available

[paiute]

Unfortunately, NASA went over their 7 gigabyte data limit with this experiment and owes Verizon $50 per additional megabyte, a total of $4,573,994.01.