GA-EMS Clears Test to Launch Optical Crosslink Demo

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that it has successfully conducted a free space interconnect demonstration ground test of its Laser Interconnect and Networking Communication System (LINCS) spacecraft.

The fully autonomous acquisition, tracking and pointing of the Optical Communication Terminals (OCT) on both spacecraft marked the final acceptance testing in preparation for delivery of the system to Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL for a June 2021 launch in partnership with the Space Development Agency (SDA).

Since 2017, GA-EMS has conducted numerous free space interconnect demonstrations of their internally funded OCTs at various levels of development before partnering with SDA last year. Once on orbit, GA-EMS’ OCTs as part of the LINCS system will perform a series of experiments in partnership with SDA demonstrating optical communication in and from space later this year.

“Our internally developed OCTs are scalable, interoperable, highly manufacturable and capable of high data rate secure communication across multiple domains,” stated Nick Bucci, vice president of Missile Defense and Space Systems at GA-EMS. “We are continuing to invest significantly in the technology and infrastructure to support and facilitate critical future National Security Space and Multi-domain architectures.”