A pair of 6U cubesats was recently launched into Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to demonstrate optical crosslink capability for this class of small vehicles. Over the past several years the Aerospace Corporation has routinely performed one-way optical communication downlinks from LEO cubesats using the attitude control system of the space vehicle to point a body-fixed laser transmitter. For this latest mission, each satellite incorporates a 2.5U lasercom system consisting of a 2W 1064-nm transmitter, a wide field of view Si detector array, an Si Avalanche Photodiode (APD) communication detector, an InGaAs quad cell, and a Fast-Steering Mirror (FSM) to enable bi-directional communications and independent steering of the transmitter from the vehicle. Data transmission from 50 - 300 Mbps OOK are planned over an intersatellite range of 500 – 1500 km. Pointing alignment, presently being optimized, and initial communication results will be discussed.


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    Title :

    CubeSat optical crosslink


    Contributors:
    Hemmati, Hamid (editor) / Robinson, Bryan S. (editor) / Rose, T. S. (author) / Berman, A. (author) / Werner, N. (author) / Swigert, J. (author) / McDonald, E. (author) / Lampen, S. (author) / Rodriguez, S. (author) / Grasso, S. (author)

    Conference:

    Free-Space Laser Communications XXXVII ; 2025 ; San Francisco, California, United States


    Published in:

    Proc. SPIE ; 13355


    Publication date :

    2025-03-19





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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