TESAT is continuing its success story for broadband laser communication in space. The development that ranges back to the laying of the cornerstone within the US NFIRE and TerraSar-X success in 2008, where TESAT first proved the functionality and capability of optical inter-satellite links in low Earth orbit (LEO), comes now to full bloom.
With the recent contract between Lockheed Martin Space and TESAT for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer Tranche 0 programme, the long-term partnership between the two companies continues. TESAT will provide the ConLCT80, a Laser Communication Terminal (LCT) dedicated for the broadband LEO constellation market. The ConLCT80 is a miniaturisation of the well-known heritage LCT135, which is flying currently on nine satellites, performing 1,000 optical inter-satellite links (OISL) monthly, more than 51,000 in total by now.
Jack Richardson
