Spacetrack Directory Name | LINCS2 |
Alternative name | 2021-059AA |
Orbit launches | 2021-06-30 |
Country/organisation of origin | USA (US) |
Starting point | AFETR (Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral, USA) |
WWW | Here |
Perigee | 521 km |
Apogee | 534 km |
Optical communications terminals that use lasers to beam data across space will be tested in upcoming experiments by the Space Development Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
These terminals are important pieces of DoD?s future low Earth orbit constellations which will require satellite-to-satellite optical crosslinks so data collected in space can be immediately sent to military command centers on the ground. Laser communications systems have much faster data transmission rates than radio-based systems but DoD has concerns such as the effects of space radiation on optical terminals and whether the electronics can withstand the stress of space launch.