Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Separated By 350 Million Kilometers, NASA Just Received A Laser Message From Deep Space
Daily Galaxy ^ | 25 Sep 2025 | Ashley Morgan

Posted on 09/27/2025 1:12:45 AM PDT by blueplum

NASA has just pulled off a deep space first that could forever change the way we communicate beyond Earth. A silent beam of light traveled an unimaginable distance—and then something remarkable happened.

In a major step toward high-speed space internet, NASA has successfully exchanged laser-encoded messages with a spacecraft over 350 million kilometers from Earth. The story, reported by IFLScience, marks the success of one of the most ambitious space communication tests ever attempted—and may open the door to a future where humans on Mars send back livestreams in real time....

To carry out this experiment, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) used its Table Mountain Facility in California to send a focused 3-kilowatt laser beacon toward Psyche. Once the spacecraft locked onto the beam, it fired back its own optical signal carrying encoded information....

Capturing the faint returning signal required the capabilities of Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County. The observatory’s large dome and sensitive detectors picked up the returning photons, decoding them into meaningful data...

(Excerpt) Read more at dailygalaxy.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: communications; dumbgurlauthor; lazer; nasa; realtime; space; technology

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-64 next last
Netflix on Mars!
1 posted on 09/27/2025 1:12:45 AM PDT by blueplum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: blueplum

“I am Mister Ed”


2 posted on 09/27/2025 1:54:36 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blueplum

The Earth-Mars delay is between 4 and 24 minutes depending on the distance.

https://blogs.esa.int/mex/2012/08/05/time-delay-between-mars-and-earth/


3 posted on 09/27/2025 1:56:49 AM PDT by Doctor Congo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blueplum

Dont laser beams travel at the same speed as radio waves? How can they have instant communications?


4 posted on 09/27/2025 1:57:58 AM PDT by Paperpusher (Gal 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paperpusher

Yes. They can’t.

Two benefits of laser comms is they’re harder to intercept and don’t dissipate as easily as radio waves.


5 posted on 09/27/2025 2:05:28 AM PDT by Justa (Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Paperpusher
Dont laser beams travel at the same speed as radio waves?

Yes, that's correct. We still can't break Einstein's speed limit.

6 posted on 09/27/2025 2:17:26 AM PDT by Right_Wing_Madman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: blueplum

Right. Sure.


7 posted on 09/27/2025 2:18:21 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blueplum

Nudge me when NASA manages laser propulsion like the Moties used in Niven and Pournelle’s The Mote in God’s Eye. Excellent first contact science fiction by two of the best.


8 posted on 09/27/2025 2:35:28 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Right_Wing_Madman

But what if I am in a car travelling at the speed of light and I turn on the headlights?


9 posted on 09/27/2025 3:02:21 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (First, I was a clinger, then deplorable, now I'm garbage. Feel the love? )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: blueplum
Laser technology in space has come a long way!

The following Google Search (AI Overview) includes the following:

Laser technology in space has advanced significantly, enabling higher-speed data communication for deep-space missions, precise lunar tracking, and even the detection of climate change. NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, which uses lasers to send and receive data over vast distances, offers 10-100 times faster speeds than radio waves, paving the way for future streaming video calls from Mars.
10 posted on 09/27/2025 3:03:23 AM PDT by equaviator (Nobody's perfect. That's why they put pencils on erasers!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NonValueAdded

The speed limit is C. It’s the law .


11 posted on 09/27/2025 3:14:03 AM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: equaviator
NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, which uses lasers to send and receive data over vast distances, offers 10-100 times faster speeds than radio waves, paving the way for future streaming video calls from Mars.

Written by an A.I.

Unless by "lasers" they mean "Star Trek-style sub-space communication," this is not possible.

Regards,

12 posted on 09/27/2025 3:15:02 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: NonValueAdded
But what if I am in a car travelling at the speed of light and I turn on the headlights?

According to the special theory of relativity, if you're in your car moving at the speed of light, your headlights will work fine (speed of light is constant, relative to the observer). However, the stationary observer who is watching your very fast car will not see the headlights turn on.

13 posted on 09/27/2025 3:15:28 AM PDT by Right_Wing_Madman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: equaviator

Now, we just have to get the sharks up there somehow…..


14 posted on 09/27/2025 3:19:00 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Democrats should have been barred from elections since The Battle Of Athens.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Right_Wing_Madman

What if the car is a Tesla?


15 posted on 09/27/2025 3:22:57 AM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: blueplum
...humans on Mars...

Will they have to eat ze bugs?

16 posted on 09/27/2025 3:24:48 AM PDT by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: alexander_busek

“Written by an A.I.”

Can it tell me how a thermos bottle knows whether its contents are hot or cold? I’ve been wondering about that ever since I heard an old joke about it.


17 posted on 09/27/2025 3:50:57 AM PDT by equaviator (Nobody's perfect. That's why they put pencils on erasers!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: alexander_busek

The rate of data transmission can increase, like increasing from 2G to 5G cell phones, but the message itself still travels at the lead of spite, oops, I mean speed of light.


18 posted on 09/27/2025 3:53:04 AM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Justa

We had a laser link at CU Boulder between the Engine Center and the Comp. Center. Worked well except in weather.(early 70’s)


19 posted on 09/27/2025 4:01:48 AM PDT by sasquatch (Do NOT forget Ashli Babbit! c/o piytar)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: blueplum

The message: Obama is a fake.


20 posted on 09/27/2025 4:03:27 AM PDT by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***h)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-64 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson