Telesat will consider adopting space-to-ground optical communications capabilities through a new strategic collaboration agreement with Cailabs. Under the agreement announced Tuesday, the companies will explore integrating Cailabs optical space-to-ground connectivity with Telsat Lightspeed for U.S. government and allied missions.
Cailabs is a French photonics technology startup that builds optical ground stations, both fixed and transportable. Cailabs has demonstrated connectivity at its ground stations with satellites equipped with Tesat’s SCOT80 terminals, which are the same terminals onboard Telesat Lightspeed.
The partners plan to pursue joint studies and demonstrations of this combined capability citing U.S. Government opportunities, including space data relay services.
“Government users need communications architectures that combine resilience, security and high capacity with the flexibility to operate across space and terrestrial networks,”commented Chuck Cynamon, president of Telesat Government Solutions. “We believe that combining Telesat Lightspeed with Cailabs’ mature optical ground capabilities creates the potential to offer differentiated solutions designed for the demanding, sovereign connectivity requirements of U.S. and Allied missions.”
