General Atomics Electromagnetics (GA-EMS) has developed a free space optical laser communication terminal (LCT) for space applications. The system operates at 1550 nm and utilizes on-off keying to support a data rate of up to 5 Gbps. The system has undergone assembly, integration, and testing and is being integrated into the host spacecraft in preparation for an Optical Inter-Satellite Link (OISL) demonstration with the Space Development Agency. The OISL demonstration will consists of two GAEMS LCT systems on two separate cubesats to perform cross-link demonstrations at distances of up to 2500 km and also serve as an on-orbit platform to characterize pointing, acquisition, and tracking capabilities between the two terminals as well as out of plane links to other satellites. While the 2021 mission will highlight an OISL demonstration between to identical spacecraft, the hardware is designed for easy integration into various satellites by using common electrical and mechanical interfaces with the overall goal of having a bus agnostic LCT architecture in support of interoperability.
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