ISS crew uses laser chanel to beam data

Jan 31, 2013 |

Astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) have transferred scientific data to earth, using a laser communication channel for the first time.

The information was transferred through the earth’s atmosphere at a rate of 125 megabytes per second from an onboard laser terminal, the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday.
The total of 400 megabytes of data included earth imagery and telemetric information, Ria Novosti news agency reported.
The transfer operation was part of the Laser Communication System project to exchange data between the ISS and the ground station Arkhyz in the North Caucasus.

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