The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the German Aerospace Center linked a satellite and a ground station using optical links, JAXA announced June 9.

The optical communications experiment, conducted June 7, used laser beams to perform communications between Japan’s Optical Inter-orbit Communication Engineering Test Satellite, dubbed Kirari, and the optical ground stations at the German Aerospace Center.

The link was held for three minutes, which indicates the possibility of establishing a flexible optical communication network with a satellite and a mobile optical ground station, JAXA said.

In March, Kirari performed a similar experiment dealing with bi-directional optical communications experiment, and JAXA has scheduled future experiments that include an optical communications test with an optical ground station as well as an inter-orbit optical communication test with the European Space Agency‘s Advanced Relay and Technology Mission to acquire statistical data.