Basically, they launched a spacecraft toward an asteroid that could very well be made entirely of metal, a composition that appears to be a rarity — at least, in our solar system's vicinity. The robotic adventurer is called Psyche,

Laser beam comms are fast, so long as the weather cooperates NASA's optical communications demonstration has hit 25 Mbps in a test transmitting engineering data back to Earth from 140 million miles (226 million kilometers) away.

NASA's Psyche mission has shattered records, proving its capabilities in transmitting messages from deep space using lasers.

NASA's Psyche spacecraft is not only set to uncover mysteries of an asteroid but is also making ground-breaking strides in communication technology. It recently achieved a milestone with the Deep Space Optical Communications demo by sending data to Earth from over 226 million kilometers away.

The April 8 test showed that even from that distance, the data could be downloaded with a maximum rate of 25 Mbps. This is already well beyond the expected goal of "at least 1 Mbps" and is 10 to 100 times faster than radio transmissions.

NASA’s Psyche Optical Comms Demo Transmits From 140 Million Miles is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) Market Briefing and is included with your AWIN membership.