3 Oct 2024

NASA's deep-space laser test reached 267 Mbps, falling as distance grew

Photonics and optical computingSpace and aerospace
AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.

What was demonstrated

NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, flown on the Psyche spacecraft, reached a system maximum of 267 Mbps when the spacecraft was about 33 million miles (53 million km) from Earth. On 24 June 2024, at about 240 million miles (390 million km), the link sustained 6.25 Mbps with a peak of 8.3 Mbps. The uplink used a 7 kW laser at JPL's Table Mountain facility, and the downlink was received by Caltech's 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory.

Why it matters

The result suggests that laser links can return science data from very distant spacecraft. It is one flight demonstration, and the rates at long range were low, so it does not show that a routine deep-space optical service exists.

Caveats

  • The 267 Mbps figure was the system's maximum, reached at about 33 million miles. The rate fell as the spacecraft moved farther away, and the June 2024 sustained rate was significantly lower than the maximum.
  • The demonstration relied on a 7 kW ground uplink laser and a 200-inch ground telescope for reception, so the ground segment was far larger than a typical spacecraft receiver.
  • The press release reports maximum, sustained and peak rates at chosen points in the test. It does not report average throughput across the whole mission.

Technology profiles

Sources

  1. other
    NASA's Laser Comms Demo Makes Deep Space Record, Completes First Phase
    NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 3 Oct 2024.

Last reviewed 21 Oct 2026.