The "Mona Lisa" experiment was transmitted at a slow data rate of about 300 bits per second, but the "pathfinding achievement sets the stage for ... high data rate laser-communication demonstrations that will be a central feature of NASA's next moon mission, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, " said Goddard's Richard Vondrak, the orbiter's deputy project scientist.

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The LLCD (Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration) launches on LADEE in January of next year and will demonstrate a laser downlink rate of 622 megabytes from the moon.

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Changes in the ions' vibration rate were measured by bouncing laser light off them.

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