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Graphic of the LUCAS optical data transmission system. Photo: NEC

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Japanese IT and technology company NEC have demonstrated optical inter-satellite data relay between the Daichi-4 Earth observation satellite in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and a data relay satellite in Geostationary Orbit (GEO). 

The demonstration used the LUCAS optical relay system, which stands for Laser Utilizing Communication System. Both the Daichi-4 and the data relay satellites were equipped with LUCAS optical terminals. JAXA launched the Daichi-4 satellite on the H3 rocket in July of 2024.

The companies reported the data transmission in the 1.5 μm band reached 1.8 Gbps speed, at a 40,000 km distance. The demonstration took place in October 2024, JAXA and NEC announced on Jan. 22. 

NEC developed the overall system design of LUCAS and both the laser communication terminals for the optical data relay satellite and the EO satellite. LUCAS uses the 1.5 μm band, which is based on NEC’s technology in terrestrial and underwater optical fiber communication systems. 

“The success of this data transmission utilizing LUCAS enables immediate downlinking of a large amount of observation data which is difficult to achieve through direct communication to ground stations in areas lacking accessible ground stations,” NEC said in a statement. “While direct transmission to ground stations requires multiple transmissions, the use of LUCAS narrowed the acquisition of observation data of vast areas to a single transmission.”

JAXA and NEC plan to continue to advance technological development of the optical inter-satellite communication in collaboration with related organizations and partners.

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