A Beacon to Space – NASA

In this infrared photography taken on June 2, 2025, the laboratory of optical communication telescope of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the Jet Propulsion Table Mountain Facility of NASA, NASA, the eight laser tag with the optical space of the background (DSOC) laser of NASA is Psycharmacie. At the time, when Psyche was around 143 million miles (230 million kilometers) of the earth.

Managed by JPL, the DSOC has successfully demonstrated that the data coded in laser photons could be transmitted reliably, received, then decoded after having traveled millions of kilometers of the earth at the distances of March. Almost two years after launching aboard the agency’s psyche mission in 2023, the demonstration completed its 65th and last “PASS” on September 2, 2025, sending a laser signal to the psyche and receiving the return signal to 218 million miles (350 million kilometers).

Text credit: Ian J. O’Neill

Image credit: NASA / JPL-CALTECH