NASA's Laser Communication Demonstration Mission Breaks World Record

Illustration of TBIRD and PTD-3 demonstrations (photo: dock. NASA)

NASA announced that the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) demonstration with the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3 (PTD-3) vehicle had been completed. Through this mission, TBIRD managed to break the record.

This technology was first launched in May 2022 via a Transporter-5 mission from SpaceX. When the PTD-3 vehicle arrived in orbit, TBIRD began sending laser communication signals to optical ground stations in California. The mission finally ran for two years.

During operating and carrying out its mission, TBIRD continued to break several records. The peak of its achievement occurred in June last year when TBIRD delivered 4.8TB of data without error within five minutes. The amount of this data is equivalent to 2.400 hours of HD video.

"In addition to breaking world records, this mission shows a cost-effective design and very low size, weight and power requirements both on PTD-3 spacecraft and in TBIRD payloads," NASA said in its latest report.

In addition to breaking world records through data shipments, TBIRD and its spacecraft have also managed to address important issues related to laser communications. This technology can make narrow-beam laser links move at orbital speeds when hit by atmospheric barriers.

Another important part is that TBIRD is able to operate beyond NASA's plans. Initially, the technology for laser beam communication was targeted to operate for six months. However, while the mission was still running smoothly, NASA extended its duration.

"The lessons obtained during TBIRD will be applied to future implementation of laser communications and minimize downlink constraints for mission design that allow exploration and future discoveries.