Planets and Moons ID: 11137

NASA Beams Mona Lisa to Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at the Moon

Released on January 17, 2013

As part of the first demonstration of laser communication with a satellite at the moon, scientists with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) beamed an image of the Mona Lisa to the spacecraft from Earth.

The iconic image traveled nearly 240,000 miles in digital form from the Next Generation Satellite Laser Ranging (NGSLR) Station at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, to the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on the spacecraft. By transmitting the image piggyback on laser pulses that are routinely sent to track LOLA's position, the team achieved simultaneous laser communication and tracking.

To learn more about how it happened, watch the video below!

Credits

Chris Meaney (HTSI): Lead Animator
Chris Smith (HTSI): Animator
Michael Randazzo (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.): Video Editor
Chris Smith (HTSI): Video Editor
Chris Smith (HTSI): Narrator
Chris Smith (HTSI): Producer
John Keller (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Richard Vondrak (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Xiaoli Sun (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Chris Smith (HTSI): Writer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center