きぼう船外実験プラットフォーム初期利用ミッション(2)

光通信実験装置

抄録

A laser communication demonstration experiment (LCDE) to be performed around the year 2005 between the exposed facility at the Japanese experiment module attached to the International Space Station and a ground station is described. The bit-rate of the downlink from the Space Station to the ground station is 2.5 Gbps while the uplink bit-rate is 1. 2 Gbps. LCDE will demonstrate the capability of high-speed optical downlink even from a manned spacecraft where vibrational environment is not suitable for very accurate tracking/pointing system required for laser communications. A preliminary observation of space debris will also be performed utilizing the tracking/pointing system for the laser communication.