Boeing, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratories, demonstrated how its Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) could link one satellite to another using a laser beam in a simulated space environment, the company announced Aug. 1.

In the third of four planned laser communication milestone demonstrations, Lincoln Labs tested the hardware for performance and compatibility with the U.S. government’s Lasercom Interoperability Standard. The test produced operational speeds of up to 40 gigabits per second in each direction.

TSAT is designed to provide a secure, high capacity backbone and Internet-like functionality for U.S. forces.