X-rays could soon be used to transmit data across outer space while communicating with vehicles traveling at hypersonic speeds during re-entry, which is currently impossible through radio communications. The way NASA have envisioned it, the project will involve combining several current NASA projects in order to show just how feasible X-ray communication in space is.
The idea to use X-rays in space for effective communicating was first thought of on NASA’s Black Hole Imager research mission. Keith Gendreau is one of NASA’s astrophysicists at the Goddard Space Flight Center, and he suggests that X-ray emitters are used that spacecraft could use as beacons to ensure they stayed in the correct position to collect rays from the edges of black holes. He then said that these same beacons could be used as a communication system by varying the frequency of the X-ray transmissions.
Credit: NASA/W/ Hrybyk
X-rays are very good at breaking through obstacles that may otherwise stop radio communication. Gendreau states, “As mankind moves further put into the universe, being able to communicate with home will require new technologies. XCOM will play in that.” One reason that XCOM is being used is that X-rays have shorter wavelengths than those found in laser communication and can, therefore, transmit data far more efficiently.
The researchers also developed something called the Modulated X-ray Source (MXS) which can generate rapid-fire X-ray pulses. This device will use X-rays to transmit data over to the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER). Further developments are expected, but more funding needs to be secured before the team is able to create a space-ready version of the XCOM.
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