DSOC Achieves First Light....
NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) achieved a significant milestone with the successful initiation of its first light, marking progress toward enhanced data-rate communications. This advancement is crucial for transmitting scientific information, high-definition imagery, and streaming video to support future human missions to Mars, according to Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations at NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
During the DSOC experiment, test data was transmitted using uplink lasers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab facility in Wrightwood, California, while downlink lasers on the instrument facilitated communication. The Wrightwood uplink laser served as a 'beacon' for DSOC to locate and target its downlink back to Earth.
Following this successful test, DSOC's mission control will focus on refining the downlink targeting systems for upcoming experiments. Precision tracking becomes crucial as the spacecraft distances itself from Earth, with data taking approximately 20 minutes to reach our planet from its current position.
Meera Srinivasan, operations lead for DSOC at JPL, highlighted the collaborative effort between the DSOC and Psyche operations teams during Tuesday morning's test. Although there is more work ahead, the teams successfully transmitted, received, and decoded data, showcasing progress in the mission.
It's worth noting that DSOC, while mounted on a Psyche spacecraft, operates as a separate mission from NASA's asteroid explorer. Psyche is still in the process of 'booting up' as it travels toward its target—an asteroid believed to be the metallic remnants of a deceased planet core.
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