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On November 30 2022, MIT disclosed that designers at the Lincoln Laboratory had crumbled the record for the fastest laser web link from space with its TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system.
The TBIRD payload, sent into orbit in May 2022, has sent data at a crushing speed of up to 100 gigabits per second via an optical communication web link to a ground receiver in California.
This makes the new record 1,000 times faster than the commonly used methods. The new technology brings improvement on the speeds of information sent and received from space.
Typically, radiofrequencies for satellite communication had a speed tag of 0.1 MB per secondly. That means the MIT engineers’ new technology is validated to be 1,000 times more than the typical technique.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service averages between 20MB to 100MB, which is still way short of the TBIRD system.
MIT’s engineers were able to build TBIRD payload the size of a tissue box, by using three available components: An optical signal amplifier, a sizeable high-speed storage drive, and a high-rate optical modem.
Radiation, shock, vibration, and thermal-vacuum tests were run to ensure the components would prevail in space. Once tested, some of the components were then modified to requirements.
The future of laser communications is bright, and the potential capabilities of the TBIRD are limitless.
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