NASA this week set a new data-transmission record for space-based communication when it used a pulsed laser beam to send data to the moon, reaching a download rate of 622 megabits per second (Mbps). The space agency also achieved an upload rate of 20 Mbps. The data were beamed from a ground station in New Mexico to the agency’s new Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) orbiter.

Later this year, an ESA ground station will support the testing campaign, beaming optical data to LADEE from Tenerife, Spain.