It’s official. We can now communicate with extraterrestrial objects via lasers. This dramatically increases communication speeds and is THE future of space communications. Once we build a moon base, we will be able to communicate with it at the speed of light.
Check out this excellent article by Popular Science for more details: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/nasa/lunar-laser-communication-experiment-succeeds-16068586
They also made a sweet video about it.
This is just another example of how Optics and Photonics are revolutionizing the world.
PS – I am friends with one of the designers of the laser system on this satellite. Go ahead. Be jealous ; )
Elizabeth F. C. Dreyer 