New Interplanetary Laser System Could Reach Mars or Jupiter

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As the video above explains, this means the system has the capacity to hit Mars — or even Jupiter.

The advanced laser system uses "active transceivers," meaning that active, synchronized receivers on Earth and in space can send and receive laser pulses, making them easily detectable and boosting power. The pulses are tagged with outgoing and incoming times; the pulses' travel time between transceivers informs the distance between them.

Currently, most scientists use a laser method known as "passive ranging," in which light bounces off a reflector. This method only works for short distances, like to the moon, which is roughly 240,000 miles away. By comparison, Mars is somewhere between 34 and 249 million miles away from the Earth, depending on its position, and Jupiter is between 365 and 601 million miles away.

The new laser system doesn't employ stronger lasers; rather, it expands the lasers' range with the active transceivers. Kevin M. Birnbaum, a scientist involved in the project, tells, "Commercially available lasers have enough pulse energy ... The key is to have a very sensitive receiver and a method to pick out the 'signal' photons from all the background light."

As of now, the system has only been field-tested on Earth, but scientists hope to test the laser on greater distances in the near future.

But if the system works, the lasers could run a variety of physics tests to help determine the speed at which our universe is expanding or address the possibility of other dimensions. It may even be able to answer the long-held question of whether Mars’ core is solid or liquid.

The possibilities afforded by the new laser system are broad; it could soon become an indispensable tool for research.

Homepage image: Directed Energy Directorate, U.S. Air Force