1U CubeSat Lasercom Terminal for Deep Space Communication

In this NASA SBIR-select Phase 2 program Fibertek will develop, test and validate a high-fidelity 1U CubeSat Lasercom Optical Terminal prototype, optimized for deep-space optical communication, and targeting the following characteristics – (i) Low Size/Weight/Power (SWaP) 1U Lasercom Terminal for deep-space mission (total power budget P<10W is targeted), (ii) Athermalized optical design of a fiber-coupled laser transmitter to innovative optical telescope for lasercom transmit/receive function, (iii) quasi-monolithic design and fabrication of the optical assembly with large 65 mm aperture, (iv) integrated beam point-ahead and beam-pointing stabilization capability, (v) integrated radiation-tolerant controller card for all control and interface functions for this 1U CubeSat terminal, (vi) Low power radiation-tolerant FPGA based electronics design, for a reconfigurable and highly capable processing platform, and (vii) compatible with a CubeSat bus interface with the appropriate ADCS system. The prototype optical terminal will be tested and characterized in a lab environment, for optical signal sensitivity levels, acquisition field-of-view requirements, and very low jitter pointing stabilization, representative of the requirements for deep-space optical communication link.