“Hi, world” NASA sends the first laser in the video … – Four

“It’s like moving from dial-up (dial-up) to DSL (digital subscriber line),” said Bogdan Oaida engineer OPALS NASA.

And …

• Se approaches Earth, ‘The Beast’, the asteroid measuring 325 meters
• Detectan a huge explosion in a nearby galaxy to Earth

Video “Hello, World!” sent by new technology called Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS), crossed the space between the ISS and Earth in 3.5 minutes. It is much faster compared to the 10 minutes required to send messages by radio. Class=”mce”

To send messages by laser, it is necessary to orient high precision, since the ISS is constantly moving with a speed of about 8 kilometers per second. NASA compares the task with the need to direct a laser point to the tip of a hair of a person who is walking about 9 feet away, and keep it there while walking.

From OPALS expect these advances in their work permit using optical laser communications for future space missions.