Free Space Optical Communications

PI: Kevin Repasky, Montana State University

The research project will develop a design for a free space optical (FSO) communications system and an initial demonstration satellite mission.  The research group is working closely with the Optical Communications group at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to integrate various system elements developed at JPL into a systems-level demonstrator mission design.  The satellite bus and the concept of operations for the demonstrator satellite mission will be designed to be compatible with the electrical power, mass, and volume requirements of the optical communications payload.  Atmospheric propagation and ground station effects will be considered in modeling the communications system performance.  The final outcome will be an initial design of a Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) demonstration project for FSO communications.