SpaceX resupply mission will bring NASA laser communication system to ISS this year

An illustration of the ISS transmitting information to the system via laser beam, and the system transmitting that information down to Earth via another laser beam.

Later this year, SpaceX’s 29th Commercial Resupply Services mission will lift a refrigerator-sized device to the International Space Station. 

This device — given the catchy name of Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) — will complete NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end laser communications system. Harnessing laser beams, ILLUMA-T will transmit information to another satellite at the rate of a respectable Earth-based internet connection.