Description of STRV-2 lasercom experimental operations

Laser communications hardware being built under funding from the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) will be flown on the Space Technology Research Vehicle 2 to be launched as part of Air Force mission TSX-5 in 1998. The flight hardware, which weighs 31.5 pounds and is designed for satellite-to-ground laser communications at data rates up to 1.24 Gb/s and ranges up to 2000 km, will be delivered to JPL for integration in March 1997. It is hoped that a successful satellite demonstration will validate the capability and readiness of lasercom for inter-satellite crosslinks and low earth orbit satellite downlinks to the ground. This paper describes the operational scenario for satellite-to-ground lasercom experiments. Experiments at other facilities, including those in Europe and Japan, are encouraged.