Canberra is one step closer to being Australia's home to deep space laser
communication, thanks to a government funding for researchers at The
Australian National University (ANU).
Two ANU projects have received funding from The Australian Moon to Mars
Demonstrator Feasibility Grants from the Australian Space Agency to help
test new activities that will drive space exploration.
The first project will build a prototype deep space laser communications
transmitter compatible with optical communication technology developed by
NASA for missions including the Optical to Orion (O2O) demonstration, at a
specialist facility in the ACT.
The facility could eventually be used by NASA to support deep space
missions.
"This funding is going to allow us to build a prototype system compatible
with future NASA missions which are going to deep space," project lead, ANU
Associate Professor Francis Bennet, said.
"This is crucial to enable permanent operations on the Moon, improve
astronauts' ability to connect to those back on Earth and even allow
high-definition video to be sent and received from the surface of the Moon
and Mars."
The ANU Quantum Optical Ground Station has received $200,000 to help
researchers and industry better access unused data about our Universe. ANU
is currently building the laser communications ground station at the Mt
Stromlo Observatory in Canberra.
"The station will have laser communication systems which will allow very
high speed communications for crewed and robotic missions going back to the
Moon," Associate Professor Bennet, who is a Mission Specialist at the ANU
Institute for Space (InSpace), said.
"This next space technology leap is going to be to laser communication, so
this research will help enable that here in Australia.
"It's like what you can do with faster speeds on your home Internet. This
will enable more advanced technologies to travel further into space and
transmit information back."
This funding boost will provide a pathway to a network of optical ground
stations which could be leveraged for future space exploration.
"It's really exciting that we are able to build technology that could be
used for future based communication for crewed missions," Associate
Professor Bennet said.
Another ANU team has been funded more than $100,000 to develop laser
measurement technology for the next generation gravity sensing mission,
potentially for launch in the mid-2020s.
The project will be led by Associate Professor Kirk McKenzie, also a Mission
Specialist at InSpace.
"The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) missions make global
measurements of water motion, revealing effects of droughts on groundwater
and aquifers and ice caps evolution over years and decades, crucial to
understanding the effects of our evolving climate," Associate Professor
McKenzie, said.
The project extends a successful decade-long Australian/NASA collaboration
and partners with CEA Technologies, an Australian radar technology company
based in Canberra, to produce the laser stabilization prototype.
"This is an important first step to upgrade inter-spacecraft laser ranging,
so measuring the distances between spacecraft within millimeters via
lasers," Associate Professor McKenzie said.
"It will also allow us to contribute to crucial Earth observations."