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ESA and Airbus test LASER data networks IN SPAAACE

Satellite-to-satellite link at 0.6 gigabits per second

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus Defence and Space say they have successfully sent data between satellites, using lasers, in a proof-of-concept demonstration of what both call the “SpaceDataHighway”.

A canned statement from Airbus Defence and Space says two satellites - Sentinel-1A and Alphasat – were connected over a laser that beamed data between the two at “0.6 Gigabits per second of a possible 1.8 Gigabits per second over 45,000km”.

The test is significant because low earth orbit satellites like Sentinel are good at jobs like photography but need to be within range of ground stations to make a connection. Geostationary birds like Alphasat can always see their ground stations. Sending an image from a low-orbit satellite to a geostationary satellite, and then back to Earth, can shorten the amount of time required to send information to earth.

That's handy if you're monitoring a disaster, or if you have, as Airbus Defence puts it, “commercial and military applications that require such unparalleled near-real-time, high bandwidth communication services.”

The mind boggles.

The SpaceDataHighway is a public-private partnership between the ESA and Airbus Defence.

The latter has built the necessary laser comms kit into EUTELSAT 9B, a communications satellite due to go aloft in 2015. A second bird with the same equipment aboard is expected to launch in 2016.

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