On October 14, Sony officially announced today that Sony Computer Science Laboratory (hereinafter referred to as Sony CSL) and Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) successfully demonstrated a space terminal from the International Space Station (ISS). Small optical link of ISS: SOLISS) optical downlink to KSAT’s commercial optical ground station in Greece. The communication format used is consistent with the CCSDS (141.0-B-1 + O3K pink paper) space laser communication standard.

Sony’s terminal is small in size and will be able to realize cost-effective ground and space communication solutions in the future. Hennes Henniger, Director of KSAT Optical Solutions, said: “This event is a great opportunity for KSAT to verify the performance of our first optical ground station and the beginning of the optical future.”

Greece KSAT optical ground station is the first station of the Optical Nucleus Network. The optical nuclear network is an informal cooperation between aerospace agencies and industry. It will provide a network of optical ground stations to serve optical terminals in space.

Sony CSL project leader Iwamoto Kanahira said that although the optical download link from the SOLISS terminal to the ground was successfully demonstrated, it does not indicate that the technology has perfect operability. However, this experiment clearly shows the commercialization of communications from space to the ground through optics.