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Projector Sound

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Projector Sound

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Beep

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On December 24, 1968, Apollo 8 captured

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the historic photo known as “Earthrise”. 

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However, it would take several days for the rest of the world to 

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see this awe-inspiring image.

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Today, NASA has the capability to send hundreds of 

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“earthrise” like photos from the moon every second using lasers.

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The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment 

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Explorer, or LADEE, will

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investigate the Moon’s fragile atmosphere to enhance our knowledge of 

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Earth’s nearest neighbor.

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LLCD, the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration, will hitch 

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a ride aboard LADEE to lunar orbit. 

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Using a small and lightweight telescope, LLCD will 

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transmit hundreds of millions of laser pulses each second to 

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one of three stations on the Earth….. Each of which was chosen 

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for it’s cloud-free skies.

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To begin data transmission, the space and ground terminals 

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must first locate each other. This process begins

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when the ground terminal scans LADEE’s path to 

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illuminate the spacecraft. LLCD senses the flash 

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from the ground and points its beam back to the source. 

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The ground terminal acquires the beam from

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space and establishes a communication link. 

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With contact established and alignment locked, 

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hundreds of millions of data bits begin to flow between the two 

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terminals every second. 

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Music

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Back on Earth, the ground terminal receives the laser pulses through an array 

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of telescopes that focus the weak signals onto 

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ultra-sensitive detectors. These detectors count the 

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individual signal photons from the terminal at the Moon, 

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and turn them into data bits at revolutionary download speeds.

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In the future NASA could download finer

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images, hundreds of 3-D HD video

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streams, and could even one day enable “telepresence”

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at the Moon and beyond for human explorers still on Earth.

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Together LLCD and LADEE 

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will take the next step in expanding 

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NASA’s space communication capabilities while renewing 

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our sense of discovery about the Moon and the universe. 

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Music

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Beep

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Music

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Music

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Music