ESA Awards TNO With
Contract For In Orbit Demonstration Of Laser
Communication Terminal For Faster Data
Transmission
05 JAN 2021
ESA has awarded TNO an
ARTES ScyLight contract to perform an in orbit
demonstration (IOD), called SmallCAT (Small
Communication Active Terminal), of a direct to
earth laser communication terminal.
BACKGROUND
TNO Space wants to pursue
activities that have societal and economic
impact. One of our aims is to enable secure
broadband connectivity that will support the
growing demand for data and increase
communication efficiency. Next to that we want
to stimulate economic growth in the Netherlands
and Europe by enabling companies to realise new
products, generate new business and improve
their competitive position, based on our
technology. SmallCAT is one example of these
goals in practice.
OPTICAL SATELLITE
COMMUNICATION
TNO Optical Ground Station
used to communicate with SmallCAT
SmallCAT consists of a <1U
laser terminal module called CubeCAT which will
be embarked onto the NORSAT-TD satellite.
SmallCat will demonstrate a 0.3Gbit/s, CCSDS 03K
compliant product providing high speed downlink
capabilities from small-nano LEO Satellites. The
CubeCAT module is mounted into a highly damped
and hysteresis free suspension system developed
by TNO that will allow to withstand the
NORSAT-TD satellite launch loads.
EUROPEAN CONNECTION
SmallCAT will be a hosted
payload on the Norsat-TD Spacecraft, which is
commissioned and operated by the Norwegian Space
Agency (NOSA) and which will be launched early
2022. SmallCAT will communicate with the TNO
GoCAT gigabit class optical ground station
demonstrator that has been installed at a TNO
location in The Hague, The Netherlands. To
demonstrate the inter-operability of the CubeCAT
laser communication technology, SmallCAT will
also be used to connect to other European
optical ground stations. The future commercial
CubeCAT product will also combine a compact
Course Pointing Assembly which is currently
under development in a parallel project.
PROJECT PARTNERS
SmallCAT has been developed
in a consortium led by TNO and includes the
Dutch company Hyperion Technologies B.V
(electronics) and the UK company Gooch & Housego
(laser transmitter). The final CubeCAT system
will meet a competitive recurring price target
for series production by Hyperion Technologies
B.V.
PROJECT FUNDING
SmallCAT is supported by
the Netherlands Ministry of Defence and the
Netherlands Space Office and jointly funded by
ESAs ARTES Strategic Programme Line ScyLight and
TNO together with the companies involved in the
project.