ULA sets new target launch date for Space Test Program STP-3 mission - SpaceNews

It will carry NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), an end-to-end optical relay that will send and receive data from space to the ground.

According to NASA, LCRD also will conduct optical communications relay services with a future terminal on the International Space Station and will help to prove the viability of using laser communications in future missions to the Moon and Mars.

The secondary payload on STP-3 is a U.S.