The Teletenna — a Hybrid Telescope Antenna System

Innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed a hybrid telescope antenna system — Teletenna — to deliver high-data-rate communication over great distances. Teletenna has the potential to benefit deep space missions and communications on Earth. By combining two very different communications systems — optics and radio frequency (RF) — Teletenna capitalizes on the benefits of each system while overcoming conflicting engineering requirements.