The Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD) made history by using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over the 239,000 miles between the Moon and Earth at a download rate of 622 megabits per second (mbps) to the terminal in White Sands, New Mexico; its uplink rate was about 20 Mbps. The LLCD also demonstrated International Interoperability in optical communications with a Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) ground terminal in California and an European Space Agency (ESA) ground terminal in Tenerife, Canary Islands successfully communicating with the spacecraft optical terminal. LLCD was part of a secondary payload onboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) that launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on September 6.
› NASA Laser Communication System Sets Record with Data Transmissions to and from Moon
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