

NASA to test laser communications link with new lunar mission - WestCoastJustin
http://www.itworld.com/370190/nasa-test-laser-communications-link-new-lunar-mission

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scotth
> When the satellite is in orbit around the moon and visible from Earth, one
> of three ground stations will shoot a laser towards its approximate
> location. The laser beam from Earth will scan a patch of sky and should
> illuminate the spacecraft at some point. When that happens, the spacecraft
> will begin transmitting its own laser towards the ground station and the two
> will lock on to each other. Once that happens, communications can begin.

Cool handshake.

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bigiain
I'm now imagining a science-fair / makerfaire type demo project – some Arduino
and RaspberryPi pairs with a few RC servos, modulated laserpointers, and
webcams – with a "ground station" searching for a "satellite" which might be a
quadcopter or a kite or a helium balloon…

(And there's a Maker Faire here in Sydney later this year…)

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RaRic
Does this technology require clear skies/do clouds block the laser?

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krasin
>The ground stations are at White Sands in New Mexico, at a NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory site in Wrightwood, California, and a European Space
Agency site in Tenerife, Spain.

At least two of these stations are located in mostly-dry climate.

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chadillac83
wireless fiber?

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europa
naked optics

