Design of an optical ground station for in-orbit checkout of free-space laser communication payloads

Reinhard H. Czichy; Zoran Sodnik; Bernhard Furch

doi:10.1117/12.207424

20 April 1995 Design of an optical ground station for in-orbit checkout of free-space laser communication payloads

Reinhard H. Czichy, Zoran Sodnik, Bernhard Furch

Proceedings Volume 2381, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies VII; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.207424
Event: Photonics West '95, 1995, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Within the frame of the Date Relay and Technology Mission Program the European Space Agency (ESA) is currently developing optical terminals for high data rate free space laser communication via inter-satellite and inter-orbit links. As a first application such an optical terminal will be embarked on the French low-Earth orbiting satellite SPOT 4. This terminal will communicate with a similar optical terminal on-board ESA's geostationary spacecraft ARTEMIS. It is planned to implement similar optical communication payloads also on ESA's Data Relay Satellite and other spacecraft in geostationary or low-earth orbits. For the purpose of in-orbit check-out of such payloads ESA is establishing an Optical Ground Station (OGS) at the Observatorio del Teide at Izana, Tenerife, Spain, in cooperation with the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canaries, La Laguna, and supported by the German Space Agency (Deutsche Agentur fur Raumfahrtangelegenheiten, Bonn. The selected OGS site provides excellent seeing conditions combined with high atmospheric transmission, which are important prerequisites for successful ground station operations. This paper describes the design of the OGS, highlights some design criteria and discusses the expected performance.

Citation Download Citation

Reinhard H. Czichy, Zoran Sodnik, and Bernhard Furch "Design of an optical ground station for in-orbit checkout of free-space laser communication payloads", Proc. SPIE 2381, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies VII, (20 April 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.207424

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