NASA’s TBIRD (TeraByte InfraRed Delivery) demonstration and its host spacecraft — the PTD-3 (Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3) — have completed their technology demonstration.
The TBIRD payload spent the past two years breaking world records for the fastest satellite downlink from space using laser communications.
NASA’s PTD series leverages a common commercial spacecraft to provide a robust platform for effective testing of technologies with minimal redesign in between launches.
NASA’s PTD series leverages a common commercial spacecraft to provide a robust platform for effective testing of technologies with minimal redesign in between launches.
After launch in May 2022 on the SpaceX Transporter 5 mission, the PTD-3 spacecraft entered low-Earth orbit and shortly after TBIRD began sending laser communications signals to an optical ground station in Table Mountain, California. READ MORE...
