The Universe The Moon attacks Europe with lasers! This non-descript image is a photo of a pulse of light, caused from a laser blast sent from the Earth’s moon towards Europe. Of course, it’s not as nefarious as I made it (deliberately) sound during the introduction. A couple months ago we brought you the story of a fascinating test that could revolutionize exploration of the solar system; this laser pulse is part of that test. In September, NASA launched the LADEE mission to the Moon with the goal of analyzing the particles that make up the Moon’s tenuous atmosphere. As we covered at the time (https://facebook/AstrophysicsAndAstronomy/posts/565336240198219), another item was brought on board LADEE; a laser. That laser was designed to test laser-based communications between the spacecraft and the ground. Whether we realize it or not, data transfer rates have been a major issue for science exploring the solar system; you can’t collect more data than you can transfer. Even though putting HD video cameras on spacecraft seems cool, we couldn’t transfer the data back to Earth even if we collected it. Some spacecraft, such as the probe the Galileo spacecraft dropped into Jupiter’s atmosphere, have had data transfer rates as low of hundreds of bits per second. The LADEE laser has been firing shots at the ESA’s ground-station on Tenerife Island, one of the Canary Islands. It has so far worked beautifully; the laser tests so far have achieved a download rate of 622 megabits per second and upload rates (required to send commands to a spacecraft) of 20 megabits per second with no errors recorded in the upload. This on-going successful test will hopefully make it feasible to include this technology onto future spacecraft, enabling collection and return of data types that we’ve never even imagined getting from the solar system. Personally I’m now officially hoping for an HD-video of a probe entering the atmosphere of one of the gas giants, how about you? -JBB Image credit: ESA phys.org/news/2013-11-moon-mission-laser-esa-station.html Other reports news.discovery/space/pew-pew-nasas-moon-probe-laser-blasts-europe-131104.htm nbcnews/science/zap-ladees-laser-breaks-space-communication-record-8C11453570 Galileo details: mrc.uidaho.edu/entryws/presentations/Papers/bienstock_pioneer%20venus%20and%20galileo%20probe%20history-final.pdf
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 14:13:14 +0000