(ECNS) -- China has established its first high-speed two-way laser communication over a distance of more than 400,000 kilometers between Earth and the moon, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The link connected the DRO-A satellite with a ground station. Space laser communication transmits information using laser beams with advantages including high bandwidth, high speed, precise direction, and strong security. However, the greater the distance, the greater the technical challenges.
The research team developed a system that accounts for factors including satellite orbits, telescope installation errors, atmospheric refraction and laser travel time to keep the satellite and ground telescope accurately aligned. Ultra-sensitive single-photon detectors and a sophisticated signal-recognition algorithm were also used to extract valid signals from massive amounts of noise.
The test achieved an uplink rate of 1.25 megabits per second (Mbps) and a downlink rate of 100 Mbps. At the 100 Mbps downlink rate, an 8K image of the lunar surface can be transmitted in about 12 seconds, compared with roughly four to five minutes over a conventional 5 Mbps microwave link.
The technology could support future crewed lunar missions, lunar research stations and deep-space exploration, according to the center.
(By Intern Yang Hongran, Zhang Dongfang)
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