ESA’s ground laser transmitter at the Kryoneri Observatory in Greece used in the deep-space optical communication demonstration. Photo: ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently demonstrated the first deep-space optical communication with a European ground segment, communicating with NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment onboard the Psyche mission. 

ESA detailed the demonstration that took place on July 7 in which a ground laser transmitter at the Kryoneri Observatory in Greece sent a beacon to the Psyche spacecraft, 265 million km away. The return signal was captured by a ground laser receiver at the Helmos Observatory in Greece. 

“Enabling this two-way optical handshake meant overcoming two major technical challenges: developing a laser powerful enough to hit a distant spacecraft with pinpoint accuracy; and building a receiver sensitive enough to detect the faintest return signal, sometimes just a few photons, after a journey of hundreds of millions of kilometers,” explains Sinda Mejri, project manager of the ESA’s Ground Laser Receiver system.

The demonstration was the result of work on interoperability between ESA and NASA in optical communications, which ESA notes was previously only achieved with radio frequency systems.

The deep-space optical communication demonstration is a “leap step towards bringing terrestrial internet-like high-speed connectivity to our deep-space spacecraft,” commented Rolf Densing, ESA’s director of operations.

Last year, NASA demonstrated optical data transmission in deep space over a more than 200 km distance with DSOC experiment on board Psyche working with CACI International.