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Loading contentA NASA optical-communication relay in geostationary orbit that demonstrates two-way laser links between ground stations and spacecraft, a stepping stone toward operational optical relays in the Near Space Network.
communication_system:lcrdDataset membership
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How Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) connects across Asteria Star — scientific, cultural, and astrological links are kept separate.
NASA's network of ground stations and relay satellites (formerly the Space Network's TDRSS and the Ground Network) that supports missions in Earth orbit and near-Earth space.
Laser communication encodes data on an infrared beam instead of radio waves. Its far shorter wavelength packs data into a tighter beam, promising data rates 10–100× higher than radio — the frontier of deep-space communication, demonstrated by DSOC on the Psyche spacecraft.
NASA's technology demonstration of laser communication from deep space, flying as a rider on the Psyche spacecraft. It transmitted data over tens of millions of kilometres at rates far beyond radio, proving optical links for future missions.
The end-to-end function every mission depends on: downlinking telemetry (spacecraft health and science), measuring the signal for tracking and navigation, and uplinking commands. The deep-space and near-Earth networks exist to provide TT&C.
A fleet of geostationary relay satellites that give near-Earth spacecraft — including the ISS and Hubble — near-continuous contact with the ground, instead of only during the few minutes of a ground-station pass. TDRS is the space-based half of NASA's Near Space Network.
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