(AGENPARL) – ven 15 settembre 2023 September 15, 2023 
MEDIA ADVISORY M23-119
*NASA to Discuss Optical Communications Demo Riding with Psyche*
The flight transceiver for NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications
demonstration can be identified by its large tube-like sunshade on the Psyche
spacecraft, seen here inside a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Southern California.
*/Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/*
NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 20,
to discuss the agency’s first test of high-bandwidth optical communications
beyond the Moon. The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology
demonstration is launching aboard the Psyche spacecraft Thursday, Oct. 5.
Audio of the call will stream live on NASA’s website [1].
The following participants will discuss the goals of this demonstration and
benefits of high-data-rate laser communications that could be used by future
NASA missions:
* Jeff Volosin, acting deputy associate administrator and program manager
for Space Communications and Navigation, Space Operations Mission
Directorate, NASA Headquarters
* Tawnya Laughinghouse, program manager for Technology Demonstration
Missions, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington
* Abi Biswas, DSOC project technologist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in Southern California
* Meera Srinivasan, DSOC ground system product delivery manager and
operations lead, NASA JPL
To ask questions during the teleconference, media must RSVP no later than two
NASA’s media accreditation policy [3] is available online.
The Deep Space Optical Communications experiment is a pioneering technology
demonstration that will take laser communications to the next frontier: deep
space. The transceiver will launch aboard the Psyche spacecraft [4], NASA’s
first mission to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The experiment will test
high-bandwidth optical communications to Earth during the first two years of
the spacecraft’s journey to the main asteroid belt. While the transceiver
is hosted by Psyche, the tech demo will not relay Psyche mission data.
Laser communications can empower missions with data rates at least 10 to 100
times higher than current radio telecommunications systems of comparable size
and power, enabling higher resolution images, larger volumes of science data,
and even streaming video to be transmitted to Earth. Ultimately, the
experiment may pave the way for broadband communications that will help
support humanity’s next giant leap: sending astronauts to Mars.
A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL manages the Deep Space Optical
Communications experiment for the Technology Demonstration Missions program
within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space
Communications and Navigation program within the agency’s Space Operations
Mission Directorate.
Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. NASA JPL is responsible
for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and
test, and mission operations.
For more information about the optical communications demo, visit:
*https://go.nasa.gov/45jAlaN [5]*
-end-?
*Press Contacts*
Alise Fisher 
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546 
Ian O’Neill  
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by
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[1] https://www.nasa.gov/live
[3] https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-agencywide-media-accreditation-policy
[4] https://www.nasa.gov/psyche
[5] https://go.nasa.gov/45jAlaN