High data-rate optical communication payload for CubeSats

Benjamin Rödiger; Christian Menninger; Christian Fuchs; Lukas Grillmayer; Saskia Arnold; Christoph Rochow; Philipp Wertz; Christopher Schmidt

doi:10.1117/12.2567035

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22 August 2020 High data-rate optical communication payload for CubeSats

Benjamin Rödiger, Christian Menninger, Christian Fuchs, Lukas Grillmayer, Saskia Arnold, Christoph Rochow, Philipp Wertz, Christopher Schmidt

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Proceedings Volume 11506, Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans IX; 1150604 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2567035
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

Space industry has undergone a significant change over the last years. The development moved from large and costly spacecrafts to cost-efficient designs and shorter development times. While the satellites became smaller, the resolution of high compact sensors increased which led to a high data-volume to be transmitted and increasing demands for higher data rates on small satellites. This motivated for a highly compact version of DLR’s optical communication payload OSIRIS for small LEO satellites. DLR’s Institute of Communications and Navigation has developed the OSIRIS (Optical Space Infrared Downlink System) program starting with payloads on the satellites Flying Laptop of Univ. of Stuttgart and BiROS of DLR. Combining miniaturization to the flight-proven developments with novel concepts, OSIRIS4CubeSat allows integration in a standard CubeSat bus. The development of OSIRIS4CubeSat (industrialized under the product name “CubeLCT”) is conducted in close collaboration with Tesat Spacecom, DLR’s commercialization partner. The first implementation will be demonstrated within the PIXL-1-Mission on a 3Unit CubeSat. Furthermore, OSIRIS4CubeSat (O4C) has been chosen to support scientific missions together with university partners in the field of Quantum Key Distribution (QUBE). In the future, the modular design will enable extensions for optical inter-satellite links. This paper will give an overview about the development of the O4C payload and the current status of the PIXL-1- Mission. Furthermore, it will show the adaptation of the payload for the scientific mission QUBE. Besides these projects, the paper will give an outlook for future extensions of the O4C payload and the necessity of high data-rates in other scenarios such as inter-satellite links.

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Benjamin Rödiger, Christian Menninger, Christian Fuchs, Lukas Grillmayer, Saskia Arnold, Christoph Rochow, Philipp Wertz, and Christopher Schmidt "High data-rate optical communication payload for CubeSats", Proc. SPIE 11506, Laser Communication and Propagation through the Atmosphere and Oceans IX, 1150604 (22 August 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2567035

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