Enter Pamir laser station for better satellite-ground station contact

The country's first 500-mm aperture laser communication ground system independently developed by the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was officially put into use in the Pamir Plateau on Sunday. This is expected to take China's satellite communication capability to a new level, which in turn will boost the entire astronautical industry.

Thanks to its high frequency and low wavelength, microwaves can pass through the ionosphere without much of it getting reflected and lost, making it a convenient and traditional data transmission tool between orbiting satellites and the ground station. However, it sets a severe limit on the bandwidth, which means only a few gigabytes per second can be transmitted from satellite to ground station and this can hardly be enhanced.

That's where laser communication comes in. Being light, lasers can travel in a straight direction for long distances without significant decay, making it a perfect medium for communication involving satellites. As early as 2018, China had successfully conducted the world's first bidirectional laser communication experiment between a high-orbit satellite and the ground, achieving a communication rate of 5 gigabytes across 40 kilometers in space. In 2020, SpaceX was able to transmit hundreds of gigabytes through laser communication between satellites.

The first 500-mm aperture laser communication ground system is a sign that China has taking a lead in that sector, and satellite-based communication nets can only get better now, while the astronautical sector will also see progress with better communication tools.

Chinese scientists' research on improving laser communication technology seems to have borne fruit. The newly built ground station is located 4,800 meters above sea level in the Pamir Plateau, where the atmosphere is clean, the view good, and there is very little rainfall to scuttle work. The coordinated efforts of all involved has put the station in place, which, in turn, will bring greater successes to space-related sectors.