Shortly after, the Psyche spacecraft commanded itself into a planned safe mode, in which it completes only minimal engineering activities while awaiting further commands from mission controllers on Earth. About an hour after launch, the spacecraft separated from the rocket, and ground controllers waited to acquire a signal from the spacecraft. Less than five minutes after liftoff, once the rocket’s second stage climbed to a high-enough altitude, the fairings separated from the rocket and returned to Earth. As Asteroid Autumn continues, so does NASA’s commitment to exploring the unknown and inspiring the world through discovery.” “The Psyche mission could provide humanity with new information about planet formation while testing technology that can be used on future NASA missions. “Congratulations to the Psyche team on a successful launch, the first journey to a metal-rich asteroid,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Integrated onto the spacecraft is the agency’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, a test of deep space laser communications that could support future exploration missions by providing more bandwidth to transmit data than traditional radio frequency communications. EDT Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA JPL is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations.NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on its voyage to an asteroid of the same name, a metal-rich world that could tell us more about the formation of rocky planets. Ultimately, the experiment may pave the way for broadband communications that will help support humanity’s next giant leap: sending astronauts to Mars.Ī division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL manages the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Communications and Navigation program within the agency’s Space Operations Mission Directorate.Īrizona State University leads the Psyche mission. Laser communications can empower missions with data rates at least 10 to 100 times higher than current radio telecommunications systems of comparable size and power, enabling higher-resolution images, larger volumes of science data, and even streaming video to be transmitted to Earth. While the transceiver is hosted by Psyche, the tech demo will not relay Psyche mission data.

The experiment will test high-bandwidth optical communications to Earth during the first two years of the spacecraft’s journey to the main asteroid belt. The transceiver will launch aboard the Psyche spacecraft, NASA’s first mission to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The Deep Space Optical Communications experiment is a pioneering technology demonstration that will take laser communications to the next frontier: deep space. Meera Srinivasan, DSOC ground system product delivery manager and operations lead, NASA JPL.Abi Biswas, DSOC project technologist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.Tawnya Laughinghouse, program manager for Technology Demonstration Missions, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.Jeff Volosin, acting deputy associate administrator and program manager for Space Communications and Navigation, Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters.The following participants will discuss the goals of this demonstration and benefits of high-data-rate laser communications that could be used by future NASA missions: 5.Īudio of the call will stream live on NASA’s website. The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration is launching aboard the Psyche spacecraft Thursday, Oct. 20, to discuss the agency’s first test of high-bandwidth optical communications beyond the Moon. NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m.

5, the technology demonstration will test high-bandwidth optical communications in deep space for the first time.

Space optical communication technology