NASA Sends The First 4K Video Recording To The Space Station

Illustration of laser communication relay demonstrations (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA A team from NASA's Glenn Research Center sent a 4K video to the International Space Station (ISS) by plane. Not only one direction was sent, this video can be sent back from the ISS. Initially, engineers from Glenn installed a portable laser terminal into the stomach of the Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. After the installation process was completed, the plane was flown onto Lake Erie and sent its data to the ground station in Cleveland. By using optical or laser communication, this 4K video recording was sent to the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), NASA's experimental platform, in a geostationary orbit. This data traveled a distance of 22,000 miles from the Earth's surface. Once the data was received, LCRD forwarded its video recording signal to the Integrated LCRD LEO User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) which was previously installed on the ISS. After that, the video data was re-submitted to the stations on Earth. HDTN Project Main Researcher, Daniel Raible, said that the results from this demonstration of technology were very much needed. The reason is, by using this capability, astronauts can broadcast live while in space.

We can now take advantage of the successful streaming of 4K HD videos to and from the space station to provide future capabilities, such as HD video conferencing for Artemis astronauts, which will be important to crew health and activity coordination," Raible explained. Although the demonstrations were successfully carried out, the team working on this project will increase its technological functionality. This needs to be done periodically so that the technology is not in vain and can be adopted in the future. "The team at Glenn ensures new ideas are not only stored in the laboratory, but are actually flown in relevant environments to ensure this technology can be developed to improve our lives," said Chief Aircraft Operations Glenn James Demers.