Abstract
Future earth observation satellites call for GEO relay links to make their data immediately available to the user. While RF communication limits the GEO relay’s data rate to roughly 1 Gbps (Gigabit per second) laser communication will extend its capacity into the 10 Gbps range as is required for the future systems. Laser communication will be applied for EDRS, the European data GEO relay system. At first, it is foreseen to provide the RF LEO-to-GEO link with an additional laser communication channel, still limiting, of course, the GEO relay’s performance to the RF bottleneck. However besides the operational service, the EDRS laser terminals shall also demonstrate the performance of high data rate links for both, the inter-satellite link and the GEO-to-ground link.
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Acknowledgments
The LCT development and the in-orbit verification are sponsored by the German Space Agency DLR/BMWi under 50YH0202 and 50YH063.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the German MoD/BWB and the US DoD/MDA for execution of the in-orbit verification program. Furthermore, we are indebted to the Aerospace Corporation and General Dynamics (now Orbital) for the excellent cooperation in accommodation of the LCT on NFIRE and for the close dialog during the in-orbit verification program.
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This paper is based on a presentation at the German Aerospace Congress, September 27–29, 2011, Bremen, Germany.
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Heine, F., Kämpfner, H., Lange, R. et al. Laser communication applied for EDRS, the European data relay system. CEAS Space J 2, 85–90 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-011-0015-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-011-0015-9