NASA uses laser system to perform fastest data transfer ever in space

NASA

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NASA's golden, tissue box-sized satellite, TBIRD, has set a new record for the fastest data transfer rate ever performed in space.

TBIRD, which stands for TeraByte InfraRed Delivery, demonstrated a 200 gigabit per second (Gbps) space-to-ground optical link speed on April 28, a NASA post reveals.

The orbital laser light communications system doubled the transfer rate record set by itself less than a year ago.

As NASA points out, "ultra-high-speed" optical communication is capable of transmitting a great deal more information than traditional space communication systems.

The space agency recently announced it will test this technology for its Artemis II mission, scheduled for next year. It could allow the mission's Moon-bound astronauts to stream HD footage back to Earth in near real-time.

For the recent TBIRD test, the system performed a 3.6 terabyte data transfer during a six-minute pass above its ground station. With that amount of time and at a rate of 200 Gbps, NASA said it can send the equivalent of thousands of hours of HD footage, or roughly one million songs, to Earth at a time.

Milestone Achieved! ✔️The TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) payload transmitted 3.6 terabytes of data over laser links to Earth in one 6-minute pass at a rate of 200 gigabits per second.3.6 TB is a LOT of data - almost 1 million songs worth! 🎶 https://t.co/tDzQo1Ldcq pic.twitter.com/jdlTE30pzp

"Achieving 100 Gbps in June was groundbreaking, and now we’ve doubled that data rate – this capability will change the way we communicate in space," Beth Keer, the mission manager for TBIRD at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, explained in NASA's statement.

To date, NASA has mainly relied on its Deep Space Network, which utilizes radio waves to send and receive information via satellites and spacecraft.

The TBIRD system was launched into space in May last year aboard SpaceX's Transporter-5 rideshare mission, atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

MIT's Lincoln Laboratory

Roughly a month later, in June 2022, the system made its first breakthrough by transmitting 100 Gbps during a flyover of its ground station, which it passes over twice a day.

"Just imagine the power of space science instruments when they can be designed to fully take advantage of the advancements in detector speeds and sensitivities, furthering what artificial intelligence can do with huge amounts of data," Keer continued. "Laser communications is the missing link that will enable the science discoveries of the future."