The flight laser transceiver (FLT) operations team for NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration works in the Psyche mission support area at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in the early hours of Nov. 14, 2023, when DSOC achieved "first light" after receiving a downlink signal from the FLT.

A cutting-edge instrument capable of sending and receiving near-infrared signals aboard Psyche, the transceiver locked onto a powerful uplink laser beacon transmitted from the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory at JPL's Table Mountain Facility near Wrightwood, California. The uplink beacon helped the transceiver aim its downlink laser back to Caltech's Palomar Observatory (which is 100 miles, or 130 kilometers, south of Table Mountain) while automated systems on the transceiver and ground stations fine-tuned its pointing. Test data was also sent via the uplink and downlink lasers simultaneously, a procedure known as "closing the link," a primary objective for the experiment.

DSOC is riding aboard the recently launched Psyche spacecraft and is being configured to send high-bandwidth test data to Earth during its two-year technology demonstration as Psyche travels to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The technology could lead to high-rate data communications with streaming video and high-definition imagery that will help support humanity's next giant leap: when NASA sends astronauts to Mars.

For more information about DSOC, go to: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/dsoc