Planning for a long-term optical demonstration from the international space station

The Optical Communications Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will deploy an optical communications transmitter demonstration and facility to the International Space Station in January 2002. The purpose of the demonstration is to establish a Gbps-class downlink from the International Space Station to ground and measure the flight terminal's performance. A large number of downlink passes are required to accurately measure the flight terminal's performance and the International Space Station provides such a long-term demonstration opportunity. The International Space Station simultaneously provides a payload-friendly environment. In this paper we discuss the objectives of the optical communications demonstration as well as the schedule for and issues related to the design, construction, and deployment of the flight terminal.