Deep Space Optical Communications

Deep Space Optical Communications Demonstration

Scheme of the architecture for the planned Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) prototype
Program overview
Country	United States
Organization	NASA
Manager	Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Purpose	Laser communication in space
Status	Ongoing
Program history
Duration	2017; 7 years ago (2017)–present

Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) is a laser space communication system in operation that improved communications performance 10 to 100 times over radio frequency technology without incurring increases in mass, volume or power.^[1] DSOC is capable of providing high bandwidth downlinks from beyond cislunar space.

The project is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. In April 2024, the system successfully communicated with the Psyche spacecraft at a distance of 140 million miles.^[2]