Development of the Optical Ground Station for the Oicets Satellite and Experimental Results
- Paper number
IAC-06-B3.4.04
- Author
Dr. Morio Toyoshima, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Dr. Toshiaki Kuri, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Dr. Werner Klaus, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Mr. Masahiro Toyoda, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Mr. Hiroo Kunimori, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Mr. Takashi Jono, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan
- Coauthor
Mr. Yoshihisa Takayama, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan
- Coauthor
Dr. Katsuyoshi Arai, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan
- Coauthor
Dr. Kenichi Takizawa, National Information and Communications Technology, Japan
- Year
2006
- Abstract
In-orbit verification of the inter-orbit optical communication link experiment between the Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS), which is called ”Kirari”, developed by JAXA and the ESA’s ARTEMIS satellite was successfully conducted in December, 2005. Kirari was launched by a Dnepr Launch Vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan and injected into LEO at an altitude of 610 km and an inclination of 97.8 deg. The functions of the satellite systems had been checked for first three months, and the acquisition and tracking of stars and planets was successfully performed. In December 2005, the first bi-directional laser communications link between Kirari and ARTEMIS was successfully established with a return link of 50 Mbit/s and a forward link of 2 Mbit/s. The basic technology for the inter-orbit optical communication links was confirmed. The Kirari optical communication demonstration experiment with the NICT optical ground station (KODEN) is planned in March and April, 2006. The onboard optical antenna attached to the -Z-axis panel of the satellite usually faces away from Earth for the inter-obit communication experiment with ARTEMIS. The optical communication experiment between Kirari and the NICT optical ground station will be conducted while the satellite attitude is fixed in the inertia field at the farside of the Earth. The optical communication links between the ground and satellite optical systems are adversely affected by the scintillation due to the turbulent atmosphere, and a possible method to compensate atmospheric turbulence-induced scintillation is to use an adaptive optics system. Such a system, however, is not easily applied to a link between the ground and a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite. We therefore use a multibeam laser transmission system for the uplink. Four uplink laser beams are used to reduce the scintillation. The optical ground station for Kirari is now under development. In this paper, the development of the optical ground station is introduced.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-B3.4.04.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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