In an effort to fundamentally change the way it will communicate with future deep space missions, NASA will use a laser beam to send a video from the International Space Station to Earth on Thursday.

NASA announced late Wednesday that it will beam enhanced-definition video via laser from the space station to the Table Mountain Observatory in Wrightwood, Calif. From there, the video will be transmitted to the mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

This is the first planned official transmission of this mission, which has been dubbed Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science or OPALS.

The transmission, according to NASA, is scheduled to take place between 11:20 p.m. and 11:23 p.m. ET -- while the space station is visible passing over the Los Angeles area in the twilight sky.

In April, the SpaceX cargo spacecraft carried equipment needed for the laser communications test to the space station.

Optical laser communications are one of the emerging technologies NASA is testing. The new laser communications initiative is a key part of the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is focused on developing technology for future space missions, as well as for life on Earth.

With lasercom, data is transmitted via laser beams, achieving data rates 10 to 1,000 times higher than current space communications, which rely on current radio frequency transmissions, NASA noted.

"Optical communications have the potential to be a game-changer," said mission manager Matt Abrahamson, in an April statement. "It's like upgrading from dial-up to DSL. Our ability to generate data has greatly outpaced our ability to downlink it. Imagine trying to download a movie at home over dial-up. It's essentially the same problem in space, whether we're talking about low-Earth orbit or deep space."

Abrahamson noted that many of the latest deep space missions send data back and forth at 200 to 400 kilobits per second. The new laser technology is expected to transmit data at 50 megabits per second.

Since one megabit is equal to 1,024 kilobits, that means the new communications should be up to 256 times faster.

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NASA to beam video from space station with a laser beam

The SpaceX cargo spacecraft will be carrying equipment needed for astronauts on the International Space Station to test optical laser communications to its scheduled launch today.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft's scheduled launch on Monday was scrubbed because of a helium leak in the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry it aloft. The mission is now set to launch 3:25 ET on Friday.

If the Friday launch is postponed, another window opens on Saturday.

Optical laser communications, also dubbed lasercom, is one of the emerging technologies that NASA is focused on trying out.

With lasercom, data is transmitted via laser beams and potentially offers much higher data rates than the space agency is able to achieve with current radio frequency transmissions.

"Optical communications have the potential to be a game-changer," said Mission Manager Matt Abrahamson, in a statement. "It's like upgrading from dial-up to DSL. Our ability to generate data has greatly outpaced our ability to downlink it. Imagine trying to download a movie at home over dial-up. It's essentially the same problem in space, whether we're talking about low-Earth orbit or deep space."

Abrahamson noted that many of the latest deep space missions send data back and forth at 200 to 400 kilobits per second. The new laser test is expected to transmit data at 50 megabits per second.

Since one megabit is equal to 1,024 kilobits, that means the new communications should be up to 256 times faster.

Once the Dragon spacecraft rendezvouses with the space station, the orbiter's robotic arm will remove it from the ship's cargo bay and then attach it to the outside of the station. The laser test is expected to last for at least three months.

A ground telescope will be used to test the new communication tool.

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Can you hear me now? NASA to test laser communication system

46 species of bacteria, fungi and arthropods were delivered by a Progress supply ship to the Station in July Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev attached the package to the outside of the Zvezda module on 18 August Somecompartmentsrecreate theMartianatmosphere by filtering some sunlight and retaining some pressure Will remain for 18 months to study how creates deal with space radiation

By Mark Prigg for MailOnline

Published: 19:07 EST, 29 December 2014 | Updated: 19:32 EST, 29 December 2014

It is the most remote zoo known to man.

Orbiting 340km above Earth, the tiny enclosures contain46 species of bacteria, fungi and arthropods.

Strapped to the outside of the International space stations, residents must deal with temperatures ranging from -12C to 40C several times a day - as well as huge amounts of radiation.

The Expose-2 experiment on the International Space Station, which is home to 46 ddifferenttypes ofbacteria, fungi and arthropods

The vacuum of space is sucking out the water, oxygen and other gases in the samples.

Their temperature can drop to 12C as the Station passes through Earth's shadow, rising to 40C at other times, and undergoing a similar process to the freeze-drying used to preserve foods.

'As you celebrate the end of the year in the warmth of your home, spare a thought for the organisms riding with a third-class ticket on the International Space Station bolted to the outside with no protection against open space,' the European Space Agency, which runs the experiment, said.

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The animals kept on the OUTSIDE of the international space station

Lift off: The Russian Soyuz rocket blasts off from a launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo: AFP

A US-Russian three man crew on Wednesday faced an unprecedented two-day delay in their docking with the International Space Station (ISS) after their Russian Soyuz spacecraft suffered a technical glitch on its approach in orbit.

The two Russian cosmonauts and American astronaut were to have docked with the ISS early Wednesday just six hours after launch from Kazakhstan but the problem means that the docking cannot take place until Friday.

This means that the trio will now orbit the Earth 34 times before their rendezvous with the international space laboratory, instead of the fast track route of four orbits originally envisaged.

Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev along with Steve Swanson of NASA had earlier taken off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the spectacular night-time launch that initially went without a problem.

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The issue appeared to arise once their Soyuz capsule was in orbit and a thruster failed to fire to assist its approach for docking with the ISS.

The US space agency NASA said in a statement on its website that the Soyuz spacecraft "was unable to complete its third thruster burn to fine-tune its approach" to the orbiting space station.

The trio were using a fast-track approach to the ISS that Russia has been employing since 2013. After the problem, they are now using the traditional two-day longer approach that was employed up to 2012.

"Rendezvous experts are reviewing the plan, and may update it later as necessary," the US space agency said, adding that the trio on board were "in good spirits".

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Soyuz technical hitch delays US-Russia crew's ISS docking

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