France to design laser satellite communication system

French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly announced a new project to design a new laser satellite communication system at the Defense Innovation Forum held recently.

The KERAUNOS project aims to experiment with an innovative, high-speed optical communication link between a 10 kg nanosatellite and a compact ground station. The Defense Innovation Agency (AID) is funding this innovation acceleration project to the tune of €5.5 million, which constitutes a first global experiment.

The KERAUNOS project consists of experimenting, from 2022, the transmission of data by optical satellite telecommunications from a nano-satellite, designed and launched into low orbit by the company Unseenlabs, via a new solution from the Cailabs company, which is particularly compact and lightweight. in its reception part. The modern and agile software architecture of Unseenlabs nano-satellites offers the possibility of integrating this laser payload in this New Space tempo.