Earth has recently received a surprising signal from deep space, courtesy of NASA’s latest spacecraft, “Psyche,” located about 140 million miles away. Launched in October 2023, Psyche embarked on a mission to explore an asteroid named ‘Psyche 16’ nestled within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Named after its target, Psyche carries an innovative Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) system, designed to enable laser communication over vast interstellar distances. Despite primarily relying on radio frequency communication, Psyche’s DSOC system achieved a remarkable milestone by transmitting engineering data from an impressive distance—1.5 times farther than the Earth-Sun distance—via laser.

Meera Srinivasan, the project’s operations lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, revealed that Psyche successfully downlinked 10 minutes of duplicated spacecraft data on April 8. This data, transmitted via laser communications, aimed to evaluate the efficiency of this cutting-edge technology compared to traditional radio-frequency methods.

The optical communications demonstration showcased Psyche’s capability to transmit test data at speeds comparable to broadband internet, despite the spacecraft’s considerable distance. During the April 8 test, the spacecraft achieved a maximum data transmission rate of 25 Mbps, surpassing the project’s minimum goal of 1 Mbps at that distance.

As Psyche continues its journey toward the Psyche 16 asteroid, located amidst the Martian and Jovian planets, it remains in a stable and healthy condition, paving the way for further groundbreaking discoveries.