DSOC: optical communication across 460 million kilometres
NASA’s DSOC technology demonstration acquired a laser signal from 460 million kilometres and separately demonstrated 267 Mbit/s at 53 million kilometres.
- Team / system
- NASA JPL · Psyche Deep Space Optical Communications
- Link geometry
- Earth to Psyche cruise trajectory
- Platform
- Flight laser transceiver + Hale Telescope receiver
- Year / programme
- 2024
01 · SYSTEM
How it was achieved
A flight laser transceiver on Psyche used a near-infrared downlink and locked to a high-power uplink beacon from JPL’s Table Mountain facility. On Earth, the 5-metre Hale Telescope and a photon-counting receiver recovered an exceptionally weak signal while precision pointing compensated for spacecraft motion and light-time.
02 · EVIDENCE
Evidence snapshot
- 01
Laser signal received at 460 million km on 29 July 2024.
- 02
267 Mbit/s demonstrated at 53 million km.
- 03
6.25 Mbit/s sustained, with 8.3 Mbit/s maximum, at 390 million km.
- 04
Nearly 11 terabits were downlinked during the first phase.
03 · SIGNIFICANCE
Why it matters
DSOC moved high-rate optical communication from lunar distance to interplanetary scale, demonstrating a path to higher science-data return from future deep-space missions.
05 · REFERENCES
Sources & references
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