WASHINGTON, (UPI) -- NASA says it's looking at lasers to speed up the transmission of high-resolution images from distance spacecraft like those now on Mars.
It currently takes 90 minutes to transmit images to Earth from the planet by radio, but NASA said research could dramatically reduce that time to just minutes and a new optical communications system it plans to demonstrate in 2016 will lead the way.
Such a system could even allow the streaming of high-definition video from distances beyond the moon, a release by the agency said Thursday.
"We want to take NASA's communications capabilities to the next level," said Dave Israel, who is leading a research team that includes NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Current communication technology will not keep pace with the projected data needs of advanced instruments and future human exploration, Israel said.
"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.
The solution, NASA said, is to augment its legacy radio-based network with laser-based optical systems that could increase data rates by anywhere from 10 to 100 times.
"This transition will take several years to complete, but the eventual payback will be very large increases in the amount of data we can transmit, both downlink and uplink, especially to distant destinations in the solar system and beyond," James Reuther of NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist said.
It currently takes 90 minutes to transmit images to Earth from the planet by radio, but NASA said research could dramatically reduce that time to just minutes and a new optical communications system it plans to demonstrate in 2016 will lead the way.
Such a system could even allow the streaming of high-definition video from distances beyond the moon, a release by the agency said Thursday.
"We want to take NASA's communications capabilities to the next level," said Dave Israel, who is leading a research team that includes NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Current communication technology will not keep pace with the projected data needs of advanced instruments and future human exploration, Israel said.
"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.
The solution, NASA said, is to augment its legacy radio-based network with laser-based optical systems that could increase data rates by anywhere from 10 to 100 times.
"This transition will take several years to complete, but the eventual payback will be very large increases in the amount of data we can transmit, both downlink and uplink, especially to distant destinations in the solar system and beyond," James Reuther of NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist said.
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