Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD)

In News

• NASA launched its new Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD).
  • It is NASA’s first-ever laser communications system — from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

What is Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD)?

• About:
  • It will help NASA to test optical communication in space.
  • LCRD is a technology demonstration that will pave the way for future optical communications missions.
  • The LCRD payload is hosted onboard the US Department of Defense’s Space Test Program Satellite 6 (STPSat-6).
  • It will be in a geosynchronous orbit, over 35,000km above Earth.
  • Currently, most NASA spacecraft use radio frequency communications to send data. Optical communications will help increase the bandwidth 10 to 100 times more than radio frequency systems.
• Working:
  • LCRD has two optical terminals: One to receive data from a user spacecraft, and the other to transmit data to ground stations. 
  • The modems will translate the digital data into laser signals. This will then be transmitted via encoded beams of light. These capabilities make LCRD NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end optical relay.

Advantages over Laser System

• Laser communications and radio waves use different wavelengths of light. 
• The laser uses infrared light and has a shorter wavelength than radio waves. This will help the transmission of more data in a short time. 
  • It would take roughly nine weeks to transmit a completed map of Mars back to Earth with current radio frequency systems. With lasers, we can accelerate that to about nine days.
• Optical communications systems are smaller in size, weight, and require less power compared with radio instruments. 
• A smaller size means more room for science instruments. Less weight means a less expensive launch. Less power means less drain on the spacecraft’s batteries. 

Source: IE