NASA streams 4K video by laser to the ISS
Laser communication will be used to transmit 4K streams on future Artemis missions to the moon and back. A first test to the ISS has been successful.
An illustration of how the laser signal is transmitted to the ISS via a satellite.
(Image: NASA / Dave Ryan)
Engineers at the Glenn Research Center of the US space agency NASA in Cleveland have succeeded for the first time in transmitting a 4K video to the International Space Station (ISS) via a laser in a test setup. A laser communication device was located in an aircraft, from which the stream was forwarded via a terrestrial network and then sent to the ISS again by laser from the ground. NASA is testing the new communication technology ahead of the Artemis moon missions to enable live video transmissions and image communication from them.
Until now, NASA has relied on radio waves to send data into space and back again. Now the US space agency is relying on infrared light for laser communication. According to NASA, data can be transmitted 10 to 100 times faster than with a conventional radio system.
NASA researchers at the Glenn Research Center used a portable laser terminal strapped under a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft for the first transmission of a 4K video to the ISS. Data was sent from the aircraft, which flew over Lake Erie, to the center in Cleveland. The airplane served as a backup transmitting station for the ISS. The data transmitted by laser light was then sent via a terrestrial network to a NASA test facility in the US state of New Mexico. There, the scientists checked the laser data transmission to the LCRD satellite (LCRD - Laser Communications Relay Demonstration), which was around 22,000 miles away. The LCRD satellite then transmitted the data by laser to the ILLUMA-T payload (ILLUMA-T - Integrated LCRD LEO User Modem and Amplifier Terminal) on the ISS.
"These experiments are a tremendous achievement," said Dr. Daniel Raible, lead researcher on the project at the Glenn Research Center. "We can now build on the success of streaming 4K HD video to and from the space station to provide our Artemis astronauts with future capabilities such as HD video conferencing, which is important for crew health and coordination of their activities."
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Test for future Artemis missions
According to NASA, the laser communication test setup should not be carried out on the ground, but under real conditions in space. This will make it easier to detect and rectify errors. NASA wants to ensure that the technology is fully developed before it is used.
This is to happen for the first time with the Artemis moon missions, which are currently struggling with delays. The unmanned Artemis 1 mission was announced for 2022, but was delayed by around a year. Artemis 2 was postponed to September 2025 due to problems with the rocket and the spacecraft. The first planned manned moon landing with Artemis 3 is currently scheduled for September 2026 and Artemis 4 for September 2028.
(olb)