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Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC)

NASA’s DSOC experiment is the agency’s first demonstration of optical communications beyond the Earth-Moon system. DSOC is a system that consists of a flight laser transceiver, a ground laser transmitter, and a ground laser receiver. New advanced technologies have been implemented in each of these elements.

Active Mission

DSOC Fact Sheet

Learn About Psyche

Tried-and-tested radio frequency communications from deep space are approaching their bandwidth limit, raising the need for upgraded communications systems. Future space missions, meanwhile, are expected to transmit huge volumes of science data, including high-definition images and video, significantly increasing the bandwidth required.

Mission Type

Technology Demonstration

Partner

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Launch

October 13, 2023

status

Ongoing

Deep Space Optical Communications News

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tA 64-pixel SNSPD array capable of counting over 1 billion photons per second with time resolution below 100 ps. The array is mounted in a chip carrier and can be efficiently coupled to a 5-meter telescope.

Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors for DSOC

Learn more about the first ever laser communication in deep space.

Employee working on the DSOC flight laser transceiver.

DSOC Flight Laser Transceiver Integrated with NASA's Psyche Spacecraft

Learn more about this demonstration.

The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration's flight laser transceiver is shown at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in April 2021, before being installed inside its box-like enclosure that was later integrated with NASA's Psyche spacecraft.

DSOC's Flight Laser Transceiver

Learn more about the DSOC flight laser transceiver.

Timeline

Oct. 13, 2023: NASA’s Psyche spacecraft launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Nov. 14, 2023: First contact between DSOC ground systems and the flight transceiver aboard Psyche. The tech demo achieves “first light” with a near-infrared laser encoded with test data from nearly 10 million miles (16 million kilometers) away.

Dec. 11, 2023: DSOC beams the first ultra-high-definition video from deep space to Earth (from 19 million miles away) at the system’s maximum bitrate of 267 megabits per second (Mbps).

April 8, 2024: DSOC interfaces with Psyche’s communications system and transmits engineering data from 140 million miles away (or 1 ½ times the distance between Earth and the Sun) at a maximum rate of 25 Mbps.

June 24, 2024: DSOC sends flight instrument telemetry data from 249 million miles away (2.7 times the distance between Earth and the Sun) at a maximum rate of 8.3 Mbps. This distance is comparable to the farthest Mars is from Earth.

July 29, 2024: DSOC uplink laser transmitter successfully commands DSOC flight instrument from 288 million miles away (3.1 times the distance between Earth and the Sun) and verifies detection and tracking of the downlink laser signal under daytime conditions. This pass ends the first phase (pre-conjunction) of the technology demonstration.

Sept. 27 – Oct. 8, 2024: Psyche spacecraft passes behind the Sun from Earth’s perspective (solar conjunction).

December 2024: The second phase (post-conjunction) of the tech demo begins.

September 2025: DSOC tech demo ends.

Partners

Managed by JPL, this demonstration is the latest in a series of optical communication experiments funded by the Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM) program under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the agency’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

L3Harris SSG Inc. of Wilmington, Massachusetts, built the optical transceiver assembly.
Controlled Dynamics Inc. of Huntington Beach, California, built the isolation pointing assembly struts.
CACI of Florham Park, New Jersey, built the laser transmitter assembly.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory of Lexington, Massachusetts, built the photon counting camera.
Fibertek Inc. of Herndon, Virginia, built the uplink laser assembly.
First Mode of Seattle, Washington, built the aperture cover.
Existing ground assets include the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (Table Mountain Facility) near Wrightwood, California, and the Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory on Palomar Mountain, California. The Palomar Observatory is managed by Caltech Optical Observatories of Pasadena, California. Coherent Corp., and Dotfast Solutions support the ground systems.

Some of the technology was developed through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program.

Contact

To learn more, please reach out to Jimi Russell at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. at (216) 704-2412 or via email.

Email Jimi Russell

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is shown in a clean room on Dec. 8, 2022, at Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Psyche Mission

Read the Psyche Blog

NASA’s Psyche mission, which will explore a metal-rich asteroid of the same name, launched October 13, 2023.

Psyche launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A. NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, intended to test high-data-rate laser communications, remains integrated into the spacecraft.

The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration's flight laser transceiver is shown at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in April 2021, before being installed inside its box-like enclosure that was later integrated with NASA's Psyche spacecraft.

The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration’s flight laser transceiver is shown at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in April 2021, before being installed inside its box-like enclosure that was later integrated with NASA’s Psyche spacecraft.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Psyche Images

See images of the Psyche spacecraft and Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC).

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