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How do we communicate with spacecraft?

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NASA.

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We Asked a NASA Technologist.

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We communicate with spacecraft
in a lot of different ways.

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We have a network of antennas
all over the world across all seven

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continents, along with satellites in space
that help transmit these radio waves.

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Astronauts, mission controllers
and scientists rely on this network

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to transmit messages and commands
and receive data such as never

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before seen images of our solar system
and universe.

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Spacecraft in orbit can only communicate
directly to ground stations on Earth

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if the satellite has a clear view of the ground station,

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which typically only occurs for a short period of time.

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The tracking and data
relay satellites, or TDRS, are a fleet

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of specialized communications
satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

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These satellites relay data from other spacecraft to ground stations,

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allowing NASA to provide near-continuous

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global communications
coverage to missions in low-Earth orbit.

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NASA is also developing ways to communicate with invisible infrared lasers.

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Laser communications offers
missions higher data rates than ever before,

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allowing us to transmit more data
at once.

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One mission doing that now is the Laser
Communications Relay Demonstration or LCRD.

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LCRD will work with the International Space Station, allowing more science

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and exploration data so we can continue
making discoveries about our planet.

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We also have a demonstration
called TBIRD, which is testing laser

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communications with huge bursts of data
from a small satellite in low-Earth orbit.

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And in the future, NASA plans to use
laser communications

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when humans return to the Moon
with Artemis.

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So how do we communicate with spacecraft?

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Mostly via
radio waves between space and ground.

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But NASA is pushing the boundaries
with laser communications

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to be able to receive more data
from further than ever before.