Image: NASA
Call it the ultimate in high art: Using a well-timed laser, NASA scientists have beamed a picture of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, to a powerful spacecraft orbiting the moon, marking a first in laser communication.
The laser signal, fired from an installation in Maryland, beamed the Mona Lisa to the moon to be received 240,000 miles (384,400 km) away by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the moon since 2009. The Mona Lisa transmission, NASA scientists said, is a major advance in laser communication for interplanetary spacecraft.
"This is the first time anyone has achieved one-way laser communication at planetary distances," David Smith, a researcher working with the LRO's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter — which received the Mona Lisa message — said in a statement. "In the near future, this type of simple laser communication might serve as a backup for the radio communication that satellites use. In the more distance future, it may allow communication at higher data rates than present radio links can provide."
The LRO spacecraft was the prime choice to test out the novel communication method because the spacecraft was already equipped with a laser receiver. While most spacecraft exploring the solar system today are tracked using radio signals, NASA is tracking LRO via lasers as well.
But the timing had to be just right.
NASA used its Next Generation Satellite Laser Ranging station at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., to send the Mona Lisa signal to LRO. The team divided the famous da Vinci painting into sections measuring 150 by 200 pixels and then transmitted them via the pulsing of the laser to the orbiter at a data rate of about 300 bits per second.
Once the lunar orbiter received the image, it reconstructed the photo, corrected for distortions created as the laser signal zipped through Earth's atmosphere, and then sent the image back to Earth using its normal form of communication: radio waves.
"This pathfinding achievement sets the stage for the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration," Richard Vondrak, another researcher with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter said, "a high data rate laser-communication-demonstrations that will be a central feature of NASA's next moon mission, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust environment Explorer."
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer is slated to launch toward the moon later this year and will focus on mapping the lunar atmosphere and environment.
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8 Comments
Add CommentInteresting project, and clever encoding method (see the linked article).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut the headline is grossly misleading. The laser was not aimed at the moon; it was aimed at the spacecraft orbiting the moon. The laser signal was directly received by the spacecraft; nothing was reflected off the moon's surface (or at least not intentionally). The headline distorts the story, and makes the text (which does not fit the headline) harder to understand.
We expect this kind of thing in mainstream media, but not at SciAm.
"This is the first time anyone has achieved one-way laser communication at planetary distances[...] In the near future, this type of simple laser communication might serve as a backup for the radio communication that satellites use. In the more distance future, it may allow communication at higher data rates than present radio links can provide."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, the Moon is still quite a bit short of planetary distances...
If I'm not mistaken, communicating with spacecraft or satellites via laser could pose a potential risk to aviation, and laser beams from space could possibly blind incidental observers on Earth, similarly to a laser pointing device.
Yes - the headline WAS misleading. I was hoping that since we can now project Mona's face onto the moon we could maybe do a Pink Floyd laser concert on the moon. Imagine the show from earth! Alas, the story had nothing to do with lasers actually ON the moon...it's a sad day.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat does this make a big thing, other than as a news item? What's implication? What's utility of it?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually SeaGypsy,NASA already did a Pink Floyd laser concert on the moon, but it was on "The Darkside Of The Moon".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRight, I saw it ! I was standing on the Stairway to Heaven !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow...guess I missed the boat, lol!! Thanks for playing along...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDavid Smith...said in a statement. "In the near future, this type of simple laser communication might serve as a backup for the radio communication that satellites use. In the more [distant] future, it may allow communication at higher data rates than present radio links can provide."
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