Laser Amplifier System in a Deep Space Optical Transmitter for Small Satellites

Barnwell, Nathan; Parry, Samantha; Ritz, Tyler; Serra, Paul; Conklin, John

doi:10.2514/6.2017-5382

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…1 and 2, and leverages the design of UF's Miniature Optical Communications Transmitter (MOCT). 3,4 The CLICK payloads, consisting of laser transceivers and pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) systems, will each fly on a 3U CubeSat bus from Blue Canyon Technologies. The optical downlink and crosslink experiments will be performed in low Earth orbit (LEO), at an altitude of roughly 400 km-600 km.…”

Section: Click Missionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CubeSat laser infrared crosslinK mission status

Serra

Tomio

Čierny

et al. 2021

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2020

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Constellations of CubeSats will benefit from high data rate communications links and precision time transfer and ranging. The CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK) mission intends to demonstrate low size, weight, and power (SWaP) laser communication terminals, capable of conducting full-duplex high data rate downlinks and crosslinks, as well as high precision ranging and time transfer. A joint project between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Florida (UF), and NASA Ames Research Center, CLICK consists of two separate demonstration flights: the initial CLICK-A, which will demonstrate a space-to-ground downlink and serve as a risk-reduction mission, and CLICK-B/C, a crosslink demonstration mission.The CLICK payloads each consist of laser transceivers and pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) systems, and will fly on 3U CubeSat buses from Blue Canyon Technologies to perform their optical downlink and crosslink experiments in low Earth orbit (LEO). We present an update on the status of both the CLICK-A and CLICK-B/C payloads. At the time of writing, the final assembly and testing of the CLICK-A payload has been completed and the payload has been delivered for integration with the spacecraft bus. The final testing included the validation of the transmitter and the PAT system, the performance of both of which was characterized under various environmental test conditions and shown to meet their requirements for operation on orbit. On CLICK-B/C, the payload electronics have been designed and are under test. The optical bench of the payload has been assembled, the characterization of which is ongoing.

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Section: Click Missionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CubeSat laser infrared crosslinK mission status

Serra

Tomio

Čierny

et al. 2021

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2020

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Development and Testing of the Laser Transmitter and Pointing, Acquisition, and Tracking System for the CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK) B/C Mission

Tomio

Kammerer

Serra

et al. 2022

2022 IEEE International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications (ICSOS)

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Laser crosslinks can provide high data rate communications and precision time transfer and ranging, using low size, weight, and power (SWaP) terminals to enable constellations of small satellites. The CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK) mission will demonstrate terminals capable of conducting fullduplex, high data rate crosslinks and enabling high precision ranging on 3U CubeSats in low Earth orbit (LEO). An initial risk reduction mission, CLICK-A, will demonstrate a downlink of at least 10 Mbps to a 28 cm aperture optical ground station. CLICK-B and CLICK-C will follow to demonstrate laser crosslinks with data rates of at least 20 Mbps over separation distances ranging from 25 km to 580 km. The CLICK-B/C mission will also demonstrate precision ranging better than 50 cm. Key to achieving these capabilities are the performances of the transmitter and fine pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) system. We present results from recent testing and characterization of the transmitter and PAT subsystems. The testing of the transmitter includes confirming the output power and modulation of the seed laser and semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and characterizing the output pulse shape. For the PAT system, testing focuses on characterizing the noise of the quadrant photodiode used for the closed-loop, fine PAT sequence. This testing was conducted using a dedicated hardware-in-the-loop testbed with an optical test setup. CLICK-A is expected to launch no earlier than May 2022 for deployment from the International Space Station (ISS) in June 2022, while CLICK-B/C is anticipated to launch in late 2022.

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Laser Amplifier System in a Deep Space Optical Transmitter for Small Satellites

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

CubeSat laser infrared crosslinK mission status

CubeSat laser infrared crosslinK mission status

Development and Testing of the Laser Transmitter and Pointing, Acquisition, and Tracking System for the CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK) B/C Mission

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