Lasers Key to NASA's Next In-Space Comm Network

[mickw]

NASA needs to transition to optical communication systems that would allow spacecraft to send high-definition video and other high data-rate products back to Earth — the kind of data that would overwhelm the radio frequency systems used today, said NASA Administrator Mike Griffin.

Speaking to an international conference of electronics experts Sept. 15 in Pasadena, Calif., Griffin outlined a new in-space communications architecture that gradually would replace the Deep Space Network that has served the U.S. space program since its inception in 1958.

More:   http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080929-busmon-nasa-communications.html