China’s 2026 moon laser communication speed is slower than Nasa’s in 2013

Data rates during two-way laser link between Earth and the moon were well behind US experiment over a decade ago

Using telescopes in Yunnan province and an experimental satellite that is now orbiting the moon after a launch mishap in 2024, the team recorded a downlink speed of 100 megabits per second and an uplink speed of 1.25Mbps, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which led the project.

By contrast, Nasa’s 2013 lunar laser communications demonstration achieved download speeds of 622Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps – roughly six times faster for downloads and 16 times faster for uploads.

Jonathan McDowell, a London-based space historian and former Harvard astronomer, said the Chinese and US experiments were comparable.

“It sounds like China has not yet reached the data rates the US can achieve,” he said, adding that he did not know what accounted for the gap.

Yang Lei, a deep-space laser communications expert and head of the research team, noted the speed advantage of laser compared to other methods in an interview with state news agency Xinhua last week.