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Benefits of Optical Communications

Optical communications systems seek to address the limitations of radio frequency communications.

First, optical communications are much higher bandwidth, meaning they can carry more mission data, allowing NASA scientists to send more data to Earth and use instruments designed for the Earth environment throughout our solar system.

Second, optical communications spectrum has not been regulated, so NASA does not need to worry about available allocations. Finally, optical communications packages are much smaller, lighter, and less power-hungry than radio frequency packages.
Did You Know?
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) uses a 3 meter antenna to communicate with Earth. If MRO was using optical communications, it could use a 20 centimeter aperture telescope instead.

Optical Communications Potential

Depending on the mission application, an optical communications solution could achieve:

  • 50% savings in mass
    • Reduced mass enables decreased spacecraft cost and/or increased science through more mass for the instruments
  • 65% savings in power
    • Reduced power enables increased mission life and/or increased science measurements
  • Up to 20x increase in data rate
    • Increased data rates enable increased data collection and reduced mission operations complexity


Mars image taken by MRO

Mars image taken by MRO
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Example

The image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) represents what one could see from a helicopter ride at 1000 feet above the planet. While this mission is collecting some of the highest resolution images of Mars to date (it will collect 10 to 20 times more data than previous Mars missions), bandwidth is still a problem.

At MRO’s maximum data rate of 6 mega bits per second (Mbps) (the highest of any Mars mission), it takes nearly 7.5 hours to empty its on-board recorder and 1.5 hours to transfer a single image back to Earth that the onboard High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera has taken.

In contrast, with an optical communications solution at 100 Mbps, the recorder could be emptied in 26 minutes, and an image could be transferred to the Earth in less than 5 minutes.

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