NASA’s ILLUMA-T payload communicating with LCRD over laser signals. Credit: NASA/Dave Ryan
NASA will soon deploy ILLUMA-T to the International Space Station, aiming to enhance laser communications in space. Working with the previously launched LCRD, this system promises faster data transmission rates using infrared light. ILLUMA-T’s launch, tests, and demonstrations build upon past missions, pushing forward NASA’s vision for advanced laser communications in future space endeavors.
NASA uses the International Space Station (ISS) — a football field-sized spacecraft orbiting Earth — to learn more about living and working in space. For over 20 years, the space station has provided a unique platform for investigation and research in areas like biology, technology, agriculture, and more. It serves as a home for astronauts conducting experiments, including advancing NASA’s space communications capabilities.
NASA’s ILLUMA-T payload in a Goddard cleanroom. The payload will be installed on the International Space Station and demo higher data rates with NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration. Credit: Dennis Henry
In 2023, NASA is sending a technology demonstration known as the Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) to the space station. Together, ILLUMA-T and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), which launched in December 2021, will complete NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system.
With ILLUMA-T, NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office will demonstrate the power of laser communications from the space station. Using invisible infrared light, laser communications systems send and receive information at higher data rates. With higher data rates, missions can send more images and videos back to Earth in a single transmission. Once installed on the space station, ILLUMA-T will showcase the benefits higher data rates could have for missions in low Earth orbit.
Expert Insights and Further Benefits
A close up of ILLUMA-T’s optical module covered by a protective wrap. Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry
“Laser communications offer missions more flexibility and an expedited way to get data back from space,” said Badri Younes, former deputy associate administrator for NASA’s SCaN program. “We are integrating this technology on demonstrations near Earth, at the Moon, and in deep space.”
In addition to higher data rates, laser systems are lighter and use less power — a key benefit when designing spacecraft. ILLUMA-T is approximately the size of a standard refrigerator and will be secured to an external module on the space station to conduct its demonstration with LCRD.
Currently, LCRD is showcasing the benefits of a laser relay in geosynchronous orbit – 22,000 miles from Earth – by beaming data between two ground stations and conducting experiments to further refine NASA’s laser capabilities.
“Once ILLUMA-T is on the space station, the terminal will send high-resolution data, including pictures and videos to LCRD at a rate of 1.2 gigabits-per-second,” said Matt Magsamen, deputy project manager for ILLUMA-T. “Then, the data will be sent from LCRD to ground stations in Hawaii and California. This demonstration will show how laser communications can benefit missions in low Earth orbit.”
Launch and Preliminary Operations
ILLUMA-T is launching as a payload on SpaceX’s 29th Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA. In the first two weeks after its launch, ILLUMA-T will be removed from the Dragon spacecraft’s trunk for installation on the station’s Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF), also known as “Kibo” — meaning “hope” in Japanese.
Following the payload’s installation, the ILLUMA-T team will perform preliminary testing and in-orbit checkouts. Once completed, the team will make a pass for the payload’s first light — a critical milestone where the mission transmits its first beam of laser light through its optical telescope to LCRD.
Once first light is achieved, data transmission and laser communications experiments will begin and continue throughout the duration of the planned mission.
NASA’s Laser Communications Roadmap. Credit: NASA / Dave Ryan
Testing Lasers in Different Scenarios
In the future, operational laser communications will supplement radio frequency systems, which most space-based missions use today to send data home. ILLUMA-T is not the first mission to test laser communications in space but brings NASA closer to operational infusion of the technology.
Aside from LCRD, ILLUMA-T’s predecessors include the 2022 TeraByte InfraRed Delivery system, which is currently testing laser communications on a small CubeSat in low Earth orbit; the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration, which transferred data to and from lunar orbit to the Earth and back during the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission in 2014; and the 2017 Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science, which demonstrated how laser communications can speed up the flow of information between Earth and space compared to radio signals.
The Goddard ILLUMA-T team in front of the payload in a cleanroom. Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry
Testing the ability of laser communications to produce higher data rates in a variety of scenarios will help the aerospace community further refine the capability for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and deep space.
HELLO
Americans are pioneers in the world, their astronauts, but scientists and astronomy students in America should not underestimate us in Iran. I know well that you are the leader in this field in America, but you should not be proud and not accept us Iranians. I was among those who 42 years ago in 1982 got acquainted with Einstein’s Astronomy, Astrology and Astrology books and in 2012 the spirits of the prophets of the world appeared to me in a veil from their Lord. He saw Prophet Muhammad. I testified that later I realized that the spirit of a person who was buried in Medina thousands of years ago could appear to me. In Iran, 12 years later, I met a person named Mohammad Hemti, who knew about supernatural affairs. I asked him what is the story of this matter? Mohammad Hemmati gave me correct information about meditation and summoning the spirit and I was exactly of his opinion. The great spirit of that person descends on him so that he can understand the truth of a prophet or a person who he thinks is true, that the story of that prophet is the truth, and when I left the religion of Islam, Muhammad because he was killed by agents of the Haram regime on the 9th of December. died Loqmeh and the criminals of the Islamic Republic were in the streets and cities of Tehran, etc… I went to the top of my father’s office and went to the roof of the warehouse there, I closed the door and said Muhammad is the Messenger of God. God, you are the most hateful and cruel person on earth, if you don’t answer me, and later I understood that God sent the spirit of Muhammad and Jesus to me to prove to me that the prophets were right and this was done by God and the elders of the earth. And the author put the date of that year exactly according to verse 89 of Surah Al-Baqarah and in the year 89 AH my Iranians testified to me that the soul of Muhammad is the Messenger of God and in the same year 89 AH I finished the book and chapters and by the year 1391 AH the book And I finished a treatise which I named Kalam Allah Majid. It took me a long time to finish that religious and ritual book of Iranians, and this is how I manage my time. In that book, God refers to a land where humans have drawn the Americas in the form of a flying bird that is an old man. The picture of the old man has the face of Brazil, and his face is a view of the entire continent of South America, the chest of the man, the head of the tribe is visible, there is a horse that is the map. The country is Argentina and one or two feathers are placed on Indian cheeks and ears. They made the continents in the form of humans and birds, but when a planet collides with the sun, all the elements inside the planet explode and hit the earth, and the fish die, and oil is created from them. Human life was destroyed on earth tens of millions of years ago. And big cities are hidden under three thousand meters of soil along with humans under the bed of evils, they have to dig the shores of the seas as far as the oil is to find the bodies of humans. At the same time, the satellites that were built by humans were taken out of the system due to the explosion. They took the sun and that’s why people didn’t think that the earth is the result of life on the earth and the system.
Greetings to the elders of astronomy, you are somewhat right about the structure of solar bodies.I have reviewed all the comments of Mike Pollock on this page and others.I will explain about Robert at the end.Robert, if he is a religious and godly person, he should not consider others as ignorant.Our religious scholars did not call me a fool when I read a surah about God.Mike, if you want to find out the structure of the solar system, you should start your research from the earth.Know the history of solar objects.Please refer to the address I leave at the end.I must have left many comments on that page, and Robert’s answer is also on that page.In 20 to 30 billion years ago, there were no moons in the solar system and no rocky planets, but planets.Jupiter and Saturn may have existed.Astronomy enthusiasts can tell the size and age of stars from the distance between the stars.A billion years have passed since the age of the sun.I asked, Robert, he must know that the spirit is not capable of creating matter.Didn’t God say in the holy books, “Father, Son, Holy Spirit?”The world of the unseen and the knowledge of it sent me with a message, and the lords of the earth and the world told me the same words of God.Tusi on the cabinet that I bought with that stone from a Christian for 17 thousand tomans, I named it Ura Mohammad, of course, I was doing dentistry with the cabinet, which was my desk, and I bought the cabinet with its Tusi stone froma Christian in Gostan Street, Vahidiya district, and the soul of Muhammad Rasul The Lords of the earth revealed to me the spirit that God sent to me.When Muhammad, the Messenger of God, left, I named that spirit Muhammad.Wahidiyya, the word revelation and diya are two secret words.Wahi and diya together mean the same in Farsi.Diya, but I translated it in Latin for you and the meaning of wahidiya for you in the translation from Farsi to English, the word wahidiya does not have two meanings.The word wahidiya is actually two words.Please let me send the word Vahidiya in Farsi to that person, then I will SMS the word Vahidiya in Farsi to him, that is, type it in a short message, you will understand what I mean.I was a child of a region called Wahidiya, a revelation was given to me, and the money should be paid by those who killed people with knives in the same Wahidiya region, and they were Arabs from their paternal ancestors, and Arabs are not afraidof death because it is said in the Holy Quran.If a man is killed in the way of Islam, he has fought in the way of God, he will go to heaven, and in heaven he will receive heavenly nymphs with beautiful faces and beautiful breasts, and they will welcome those men in heaven whofought and killed in the way of God.became But I spoke to the Messenger of God, whose name I named Muhammad, about this issue that is in Surah An-Nisa, in the Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa, it talks about women, I mean the same issue that Itold you that a man or a soldier in Islam The way of God should be killed, Muhammad said that the soul cannot drink wine
HELLO
Americans are pioneers in the world, their astronauts, but scientists and astronomy students in America should not underestimate us in Iran. I know well that you are the leader in this field in America, but you should not be proud and not accept us Iranians. I was among those who 42 years ago in 1982 got acquainted with Einstein’s Astronomy, Astrology and Astrology books and in 2012 the spirits of the prophets of the world appeared to me in a veil from their Lord. He saw Prophet Muhammad. I testified that later I realized that the spirit of a person who was buried in Medina thousands of years ago could appear to me. In Iran, 12 years later, I met a person named Mohammad Hemti, who knew about supernatural affairs. I asked him what is the story of this matter? Mohammad Hemmati gave me correct information about meditation and summoning the spirit and I was exactly of his opinion. The great spirit of that person descends on him so that he can understand the truth of a prophet or a person who he thinks is true, that the story of that prophet is the truth, and when I left the religion of Islam, Muhammad because he was killed by agents of the Haram regime on the 9th of December. died Loqmeh and the criminals of the Islamic Republic were in the streets and cities of Tehran, etc… I went to the top of my father’s office and went to the roof of the warehouse there, I closed the door and said Muhammad is the Messenger of God. God, you are the most hateful and cruel person on earth, if you don’t answer me, and later I understood that God sent the spirit of Muhammad and Jesus to me to prove to me that the prophets were right and this was done by God and the elders of the earth. And the author put the date of that year exactly according to verse 89 of Surah Al-Baqarah and in the year 89 AH my Iranians testified to me that the soul of Muhammad is the Messenger of God and in the same year 89 AH I finished the book and chapters and by the year 1391 AH the book And I finished a treatise which I named Kalam Allah Majid. It took me a long time to finish that religious and ritual book of Iranians, and this is how I manage my time. In that book, God refers to a land where humans have drawn the Americas in the form of a flying bird that is an old man. The picture of the old man has the face of Brazil, and his face is a view of the entire continent of South America, the chest of the man, the head of the tribe is visible, there is a horse that is the map. The country is Argentina and one or two feathers are placed on Indian cheeks and ears. They made the continents in the form of humans and birds, but when a planet collides with the sun, all the elements inside the planet explode and hit the earth, and the fish die, and oil is created from them. Human life was destroyed on earth tens of millions of years ago. And big cities are hidden under three thousand meters of soil along with humans under the bed of evils, they have to dig the shores of the seas as far as the oil is to find the bodies of humans. At the same time, the satellites that were built by humans were taken out of the system due to the explosion. They took the sun and that’s why people didn’t think that the earth is the result of life on the earth and the system.
Greetings to the elders of astronomy, you are somewhat right about the structure of solar bodies.I have reviewed all the comments of Mike Pollock on this page and others.I will explain about Robert at the end.Robert, if he is a religious and godly person, he should not consider others as ignorant.Our religious scholars did not call me a fool when I read a surah about God.Mike, if you want to find out the structure of the solar system, you should start your research from the earth.Know the history of solar objects.Please refer to the address I leave at the end.I must have left many comments on that page, and Robert’s answer is also on that page.In 20 to 30 billion years ago, there were no moons in the solar system and no rocky planets, but planets.Jupiter and Saturn may have existed.Astronomy enthusiasts can tell the size and age of stars from the distance between the stars.A billion years have passed since the age of the sun.I asked, Robert, he must know that the spirit is not capable of creating matter.Didn’t God say in the holy books, “Father, Son, Holy Spirit?”The world of the unseen and the knowledge of it sent me with a message, and the lords of the earth and the world told me the same words of God.Tusi on the cabinet that I bought with that stone from a Christian for 17 thousand tomans, I named it Ura Mohammad, of course, I was doing dentistry with the cabinet, which was my desk, and I bought the cabinet with its Tusi stone froma Christian in Gostan Street, Vahidiya district, and the soul of Muhammad Rasul The Lords of the earth revealed to me the spirit that God sent to me.When Muhammad, the Messenger of God, left, I named that spirit Muhammad.Wahidiyya, the word revelation and diya are two secret words.Wahi and diya together mean the same in Farsi.Diya, but I translated it in Latin for you and the meaning of wahidiya for you in the translation from Farsi to English, the word wahidiya does not have two meanings.The word wahidiya is actually two words.Please let me send the word Vahidiya in Farsi to that person, then I will SMS the word Vahidiya in Farsi to him, that is, type it in a short message, you will understand what I mean.I was a child of a region called Wahidiya, a revelation was given to me, and the money should be paid by those who killed people with knives in the same Wahidiya region, and they were Arabs from their paternal ancestors, and Arabs are not afraidof death because it is said in the Holy Quran.If a man is killed in the way of Islam, he has fought in the way of God, he will go to heaven, and in heaven he will receive heavenly nymphs with beautiful faces and beautiful breasts, and they will welcome those men in heaven whofought and killed in the way of God.became But I spoke to the Messenger of God, whose name I named Muhammad, about this issue that is in Surah An-Nisa, in the Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa, it talks about women, I mean the same issue that Itold you that a man or a soldier in Islam The way of God should be killed, Muhammad said that the soul cannot drink wine time IN iran 1:46 am