NASA Is Making History With Laser Communication in Space

NASA made history in early October by beaming a four-inch, data-packed laser the 239,000 miles between Earth and a spacecraft orbiting the Moon. According to a press release provided to Mashable, the transmission took place at an error-free rate of 622 megabits per second.

The laser technology, which we reported on as it was loaded onto the spacecraft in early September, was developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to speed up communication between a station in New Mexico and spaceships orbiting the Moon. 

This rate of transmission is six times the current standard, and will allow for transferring more data that could come in the form of higher resolution photos and 3D imagesRadio waves, which NASA has been using to transmit information, can't compete. Read more...