Preliminary design of key optical components onboard laser communication terminal of GEO data relay satellite for cislunar optical communication system

Abstract

JAXA and NICT have jointly started the research work for cislunar optical communications. Our research work aims at 2.5 Gbit/s high-speed optical communication from the Moon to the Earth. We have proposed deep space optical link configuration applying Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) data relay satellite and High Data Rate (HDR) method. We have conducted preliminary design of key optical components onboard laser communication terminal (LCT) of the GEO data relay satellite. This paper describes design of large-aperture optical antenna and high-sensitivity optical communication system, which implements adaptive optics (AO) module and high-sensitivity optical receiver applying digital coherent scheme.