Greek officials were briefed on the developments of a unique joint experiment led by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), underway with the participation of the Kryoneri Observatory located in the district of Corinth in the northern Peloponnese.

The main objective of the “Psyche Mission,” as it is called, is to gather information about the unique metal-rich asteroid of the same name that orbits the Sun in the outer part of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It is approximately three times farther from the Sun than Earth.

However, a secondary objective of the mission is to test the use of lasers to transfer more data with distant spacecraft than is possible with radio waves used today. The Kryoneri Observatory, equipped with one of the largest telescopes in Greece, is playing a key role in the experiment.

At the heart of the landmark experiment by NASA and the ESA lies a laser beam communication link between the Kryoneri Observatory in Greece and a spacecraft orbiting Mars, some 300 million kilometers away from Earth.

A message was transmitted from the region of Corinthia, and just a few minutes later, a reply arrived at the Helmos Observatory, the largest telescope in the Balkans and the second largest in continental Europe, located near Kalavryta in the southern Peloponnese.

The National Observatory of Athens plays an active role in this cutting-edge initiative through its two facilities in the Peloponnese. The ambitious goal is to transform the Kryoneri Observatory into the largest space hub in southeastern Europe.

This collaboration is expected to lay the foundation for advances in optical and quantum communication technologies, placing Greece at the forefront of global developments in space innovation.