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A Day in the Life of the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration ProjectThis paper provides an overview of the planned concept of operations for the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Project (LCRD), a joint project among NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (JPL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL). LCRD will provide at least two years of bi-directional optical communications at user data rates of up to 1.244 Gbps in an operational environment. The project lays the groundwork for establishing communications architecture and protocols, and developing the communications hardware and support infrastructure, concluding in a demonstration of optical communications' potential to meet NASA's growing need for higher data rates for future science and exploration missions. A pair of flight optical communications terminals will reside on a single commercial communications satellite in geostationary orbit; the two ground optical communications terminals will be located in Southern California and Hawaii. This paper summarizes the current LCRD architecture and key systems for the demonstration, focusing on what it will take to operate an optical communications relay that can support space-to-space, space-to-air, and space-to-ground optical links.
Document ID
20160006393
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Edwards, Bernard
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Israel, David
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Caroglanian, Armen
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Spero, James
(ASRC Federal Space and Defense Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Roberts, Tom
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Moores, John
(Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Lexington, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
May 18, 2016
Publication Date
May 16, 2016
Subject Category
Communications And Radar
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN30617
Meeting Information
Meeting: Space Ops 2016
Location: Daejeon
Country: Korea, Republic of
Start Date: May 16, 2016
End Date: May 20, 2016
Sponsors: Korea Aerospace Research Inst., NASA Headquarters
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: FA8721-05-C-0002
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNG14CR58C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Communications
Laser
Optical
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