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Mahesh

01/05/22 00:00 AM IST

NASA’s new communications system LCRD

In News 

NASA recently demonstrated its Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD). It was launched in December 2021.

LRCD 
  • It is the agency’s first-ever laser communications system.
  • The LCRD will help the agency test optical communication in space.
  • LCRD will demonstrate all of the advantages of using laser systems and allow us to learn how to use them best operationally.
  • 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.
Laser v/s Radio 
  • Laser communications and radio waves use different wavelengths of light.
  • 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.
Benefits 
  • 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.
  • With optical communications supplementing radio, missions will have unparalleled communications capabilities.
Source-PIB 

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