NASA researchers want to speed up the transmission of data from space using a laser system called LCRD.
As Badri Younes, NASA's Deputy Assistant Program Administrator for Space Communications and Navigation, noted, "This technology is very important in many ways."
NASA claims that lasers will allow transmission10-100 times more data to the Earth than using radio frequencies. Their work time will be enough until at least 2030, even if the amount of information increases many times over.
The use of lasers will also avoidcongestion problems in the radio frequency spectrum, Younes noted. This problem has been exacerbated by the growing number of low-Earth orbit satellite groups, which is why companies are often filing regulatory claims over each other's spectrum.
Source: Space.com