NASA's Laser Link Boasts Record-Breaking 200 Gbps Speed

Re:NASA's Laser Link Boasts Record-Breaking 200 Gbps Speed by mturmon on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @11:36AM (#36126093)

My understanding is that the technical blocker for space interferometry is precision metrology and formation flying, not bandwidth? I.e., you have to know the exact separation between the two telescopes as a function of time (something like nm over a multi-km baseline).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:NASA's Laser Link Boasts Record-Breaking 200 Gbps Speed by memetomancer on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @11:47AM (#36126226)

should be able to measure that with the same lasers, I would think.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:NASA's Laser Link Boasts Record-Breaking 200 Gbps Speed by robertlagrant on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @12:18PM (#36126679)

But how do you know where to point them?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:NASA's Laser Link Boasts Record-Breaking 200 Gbps Speed by fuzzylightbulb on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @01:17PM (#36127555)

Believe it or not: more lasers

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:NASA's Laser Link Boasts Record-Breaking 200 Gbps Speed by londons_explore on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @02:11PM (#36128337)

At those levels of accuracy, I would expect the refractive index of the not-quite-empty space space in our solar system to prove problematic.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:NASA's Laser Link Boasts Record-Breaking 200 Gbps Speed by Baeocystin on Tuesday May 30, 2023 @03:17PM (#36129246)

I wonder if orbiting outside of the ecliptic results in less stuff (even down to hydrogen) in a meaningful way.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:NASA's Laser Link Boasts Record-Breaking 200 Gbps Speed by mturmon on Wednesday May 31, 2023 @03:13AM (#36135428)

There is no atmosphere for a space interferometer, which is one of the main technical considerations for optical comms from orbit.

[ Parent | on HN ]