NASA to Test Laser Communications System Aboard the ISS

Over the past decade the quality of scientific instruments being sent off world has dramatically increased. From highly sensitive molecular sniffers to HD cameras, the amount of data being generated by these tools is enormous. While that glut of data is giving us an even greater understanding of our solar system and deep space, the bandwidth required to get it back to Earth is threatening to clog up interstellar communications. In an attempt to alleviate this bottleneck, NASA is looking to lasers as a way to reopen its stream of cosmic information.

Called the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS), the new communication system will be launched to the ISS aboard a Falcon9 rocket as part of a routine cargo resupply mission. Built around a closed loop control system and a two-axis gimbal, OPALS is also armed with a camera, a laser and a lens collimator system. Once aboard the station OPALS will be installed and begin conducting a series of communication tests with an Earth-based telescope.

"Optical communications has the potential to be a game-changer," said OPALS Mission Manager Matt Abrahamson. "Right now, many of our deep space missions communicate at 200 to 400 kilobits per second."

As it orbits Earth, the OPALS system will be tracked by its telescopic counterpart and periodically sent a laser signal to begin communication transmission. Once the signal is received, the ISS-housed instrument will begin to downlink a laser beam containing formatted video back to its parent telescope. During these tests NASA hopes to prove it can stream information at speeds up to 50 megabits per second – the equivalent of downloading a full-length feature film in 2 minutes.

“It's like upgrading from dial-up to DSL," says Bogdan Oaida, the OPALS project’s systems engineer. "Our ability to generate data has greatly outpaced our ability to downlink it. Imagine trying to download a movie at home over dial-up. It's essentially the same problem in space, whether we're talking about low-Earth orbit or deep space."

Throughout its trials the OPALS system will be used to study pointing, acquisition, tracking and the characteristics of optical laser behavior as it interacts with Earth’s atmosphere. If successful, OPALS could represent a major milestone in space communications, opening up a frontier for richer data acquisition and scientific discovery.

Image Courtesy of NASA JPL