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Completed TRL 5 (started at 3, targeting 8)
NASA has invested in advancing free space optical communications technologies to meet the ever-greater data demands for science and human exploration missions, to cultivate a robust commercial optical communications industrial base, and to enable optical communications technology diffusion for widespread commercial applications. The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) is NASA's first optical communications relay satellite. LCRD will be stationed in geosynchronous orbit and is designed achieve data links to the ground or low-Earth orbit (LEO) users from 2 Mbps up to 2.88 Gbps. However, optical communications user terminals are required for LEO user missions to use optical communications services. NASA SCaN is developing the Integrated Lasercomm LEO User Modem Amplifier – Terminal (ILLUMA-T) for LEO mission users, with an initial demonstration from the International Space Station (ISS) in early 2022.
Free-space optical communications will enable unprecedented data rates for NASA missions, enabling new scientific and exploration discoveries. Additionally, free-space optical communications capabilities are anticipated to have widespread commercial applications. ILLUMA-T leverages the investments NASA has made in LCRD and cultivates a commercial industrial base towards the goal of widespread commercialization of free-space optical communications.
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