NASA’s LCOT (Low-Cost Optical Terminal), a ground station made of modified commercial hardware, transmitted its first laser communications uplink to the TBIRD (TeraByte Infrared Delivery), a tissue box-sized payload formerly in low Earth orbit. During the first live sky test, NASA’s LCOT produced enough uplink intensity for the TBIRD payload to identify the laser beacon, … Read more
NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station have the opportunity to vote in general elections through absentee ballots or early voting in coordination with the county clerk’s office where they live. So, how is voting from space possible? Through NASA’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Program. Similar to most data transmitted between the space station … Read more
NASA’s TBIRD (TeraByte InfraRed Delivery) demonstration and its host spacecraft — the PTD-3 (Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3) — have completed their technology demonstration. The TBIRD payload spent the past two years breaking world records for the fastest satellite downlink from space using laser communications. NASA’s PTD series leverages a common commercial spacecraft to provide a robust … Read more
In this clip, engineers are testing the the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Deployable Aperture Cover. This component is responsible for keeping light out of the telescope barrel. It will be deployed once in orbit using a soft material attached to support booms and remains in this position throughout the observatory’s lifetime. Credit: NASA’s Goddard … Read more
For over a decade, NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Internship Project alumni have played important roles in extending the agency’s long-term vision for exploration. For National Intern Day on Thursday, July 25, previous program interns reflect on their journeys to and through NASA and offer advice for current and future interns. Every summer interns … Read more
New 66-foot-wide antenna dishes will be built, online, and operational in time to provide near-continuous communications services to Artemis astronauts at the Moon later this decade. Called LEGS, short for Lunar Exploration Ground Sites, the antennas represent critical infrastructure for NASA’s vision of supporting a sustained human presence at the Moon. The first three of … Read more
Using NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system, pictures and videos of cherished pets flew through space over laser communications links at a rate of 1.2 gigabits per second — faster than most home internet speeds. NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Christina Koch, and Kjell Lindgren, along with other agency employees, submitted photos and videos of … Read more
Nine companies have been selected to conduct early-stage studies of concepts for commercial services to support lower-cost, higher-frequency missions to the Red Planet. NASA has identified nine U.S. companies to perform a total of 12 concept studies of how commercial services can be applied to enable science missions to Mars. Each awardee will receive between … Read more
Capable of receiving both radio frequency and optical signals, the DSN’s hybrid antenna has tracked and decoded the downlink laser from DSOC, aboard NASA’s Psyche mission. An experimental antenna has received both radio frequency and near-infrared laser signals from NASA’s Psyche spacecraft as it travels through deep space. This shows it’s possible for the giant … Read more
In 2023, NASA-developed search and rescue technologies aided first responders in locating and saving 350 lives in the United States. Now, NASA is incorporating that same technology in astronaut missions. NASA provides technical expertise to the international satellite-aided search and rescue effort known as Cospas-Sarsat. This technical expertise has enabled the development of multiple emergency … Read more