TRFP Presents: When Communicating Goes Wrong...Or, Right?

Join Casey and Corbin as they 'Farm Rage' with this deep dive into NASA's DSOC program and the wildfires of Chile and Maui.

The test was part of NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, and the successful establishment of the comms link is known as 'first light'.

"Achieving first light is one of many critical DSOC milestones in the coming months, paving the way toward higher-data-rate communications capable of sending scientific information, high-definition imagery, and streaming video in support of humanity's next giant leap," Trudy Kortes, who is director of Technology Demonstrations at NASA Headquarters, said at the time.

We all rely on similar tech built into optical fibers for our ground-based, high-speed communications, but here it was adapted for use through deep space to improve on existing methods of getting information back to Earth.

Being infrared light, engineers can easily transmit its waves in laser form. This won't get the light moving any faster, but it does tidy and constrain its beam to a narrow channel. This requires far less power than a scatter of radio waves and is harder to intercept.

So, what do you all think? Is this a communication device? Or, is this how they get their 'black ops' funding for their 'direct energy weapons'?