NASA Shoots Lasers At The Moon To Create Lightning-Fast Internet

NASA is back to work after the temporary shutdown that all but shuttered the space agency’s doors for the first part of October. Their latest feat worthy of awe? NASA has successfully broken records for communication speeds in space using lasers. A recent experiment involved pointing lasers at the moon to get speeds of up to 622 megabits per second (Mbps) for download and 75 Mbps for upload.

Using lasers is quite different from radio signals, the current method of sending information through space. According to RT, NASA’s recent test proved lasers to be five times faster than radio. For comparison, the laser internet’s speeds rose to 10 times faster than even the speediest commercially available internet.

There’s more to the experiment than super fast YouTube video loads, however. As Wired explains, radio transmissions need greater power the further away the recipient is. For NASA, this has been a growing concern as long-range missions become increasingly difficult to manage. Voyager 1, the space probe furthest from Earth, now has to have a 230-foot radio telescope with a 111-foot antenna to still be heard.

This new technology from NASA uses three telescope-based terminals on Earth. In the recent experiment information was shot via laser to the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE. LADEE was launched in September to perform tests on the moon’s meager atmosphere. In orbit of the moon, LADEE was able to receive NASA’s information laser beams and have them sent back to Earth. This was done by using the moon probe’s Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration module, or LLCD.

The future challenge of using laser-based communications centers on pin-point accuracy. If the information beam is even slightly off its target, connections could be slowed or completely dropped. However, once perfected, this means even very distant space probes could send high-resolution 3D videos and images back to Earth.

After the LLCD, NASA plans to up the ante with the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD). To be launched in 2017, the LCRD will aim to be NASA’s first major step in building a solar system-wide internet connection.

[Image via NASA / Dana Berry]