New X-Ray Communication By NASA Can Send Data at Gigabits per Second Across Space

NASA is optimistic that the new technology will present itself as a viable alternative to laser communication and enable the transmission of large amounts of data using little power. In addition, XCOM also has the capacity to penetrate radio-frequency shielding on the ground, as well as to establish communication with hypersonic vehicles and inbound spacecraft.

The new technology, dubbed NavCube, will also help meet future navigational challenges in deep space. It combines NASA's reconfigurable and fast flight computing platform SpaceCube with the Navigator Global Positioning System (GPS) flight receiver that uses GPS signals to enable onboard autonomous positioning, timing, and navigation even in areas where signal strength is weak.

"NavCube is more flexible than previous Navigators because of its ample computational resources. Also, because we added the ability to process modernized GPS signals, NavCube has the potential to significantly enhance performance at low, and especially, high altitudes, potentially even to the area of space near the moon and lunar orbits," said Luke Winternitz, Navigator's chief architect, reports the Science Daily.

"Both SpaceCube and Navigator already proved their value to NASA. Now the combination of the two gives NASA another tool. Also, the possibility that it might help demonstrate X-ray communications in space -- a technology in which we also have interest -- is particularly exciting."

Click here to check out the official NavCube announcement and learn more about this new technology.