NASA and SpaceX are preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) on November 5. The rocket’s uncrewed Dragon spacecraft will carry ILLUMA-T components, a new laser communications system, to the ISS for NASA.

NASA will accelerate with laser communication system ILLUMA-T

ILLUMA-T, which stands for Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal, will allow astronauts on the ISS to communicate more reliably with Earth. The system will also serve as the first test of a two-way laser communications relay that NASA hopes to use on the Moon.

“Future missions will have potentially extraordinary big data needs, and so we must consider how to meet these needs,” NASA’s Jason Mitchell said at a press conference. “More data means more discoveries.” He stated.

The laser communications system on the ISS has been in preparation since 2021, when the agency’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration satellite was launched. Once installed, ILLUMA-T will allow the station to transmit much more data at higher speeds.

These developments are all part of NASA’s ongoing plans to strengthen its communications capabilities for missions outside our radio spectrum. As humanity’s space missions take us further and further from Earth, finding better and faster methods of communication will be extremely important.

The laser communications system on the ISS will utilize infrared light to transmit both video and images faster. NASA hopes this will increase science returns and facilitate data transfer for missions to Mars, the Moon and beyond. For some context, the last update to Voyager 2 took 18 hours to be transmitted in space. A laser-based system could speed up such communications exponentially.