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AssetID: 50952044

Headline: NASA Launching Into Laser Communications Era

Caption: VIDEO AVAILABLE: CONTACT INFO@COVERMG.COM An illustration of NASA's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration communicating over laser links. NASA is taking a step toward the next era of space communications with the launch of its Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) on Sunday, Dec. 5. The agency’s first end-to-end laser relay system, LCRD is set to launch as part of the United States Space Force Space Systems Command’s Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission. STP-3 will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Its two-hour launch window opens at 4:04 a.m. EST. Laser communications – also called optical communications because they use light to send information – offer higher data rates than traditional radio frequency systems, enabling more data to be transmitted with each transmission. LCRD will demonstrate space-to-ground laser communications linking ground stations in Hawaii and California. Later in mission, LCRD will receive and transmit data from an optical terminal that NASA will place on the International Space Station.

Keywords: NASA,space,lasers,satellite,technology,sci-fi,rockets,orbit,Earth,science,astronomy,solar system

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