KEYWORDS: Space operations, Space telescopes, Laser communications, Telescopes, Data communications, Clouds, Time division multiplexing, Video, Multiplexing, Laser systems engineering
From mid-October through mid-November 2013, NASA’s Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) successfully demonstrated for the first time duplex laser communications between a satellite in lunar orbit, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), and ground stations on the Earth. It constituted the longest-range laser communication link ever built and demonstrated the highest communication data rates ever achieved to or from the Moon. The system included the development of a novel space terminal, a novel ground terminal, two major upgrades of existing ground terminals, and a capable and flexible ground operations infrastructure. This presentation will give an overview of the system architecture and the several terminals, basic operations of both the link and the whole system, and some typical results.
The Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD), a project being undertaken by
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, will be NASA's first attempt to demonstrate optical communications between a
lunar orbiting spacecraft and Earth-based ground receivers. The LLCD space terminal will
be flown on the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft,
presently scheduled to launch in 2013. LLCD will demonstrate downlink optical
communications at rates up to 620 Mbps, uplink optical communications at rates up to 20
Mbps, and two-way time-of-flight measurements with the potential to perform ranging with
sub-centimeter accuracy.
KEYWORDS: Space operations, Space telescopes, Telescopes, Receivers, Optical communications, Laser communications, Transmitters, Electronics, Optical fibers, Control systems
The Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD), a project being undertaken by MIT Lincoln Laboratory and
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, represents NASA's first attempt to demonstrate optical communications from a
lunar orbiting spacecraft to an Earth-based ground receiver. The LLCD space terminal will be flown on the Lunar
Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft, presently scheduled to launch in 2013. LLCD will
demonstrate downlink optical communications at rates up to 620 Mbps, uplink optical communications at rates up to 20
Mbps, and two-way time-of-flight measurements with the potential to perform ranging with sub-centimeter accuracy.
We describe the objectives of the LLCD program and discuss key technologies employed in the space and ground
terminals.
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