Breaking the Barrier in Space with Optical Satellite Technology

Let there be light, and there was an IT backbone in the sky.

Constellations spoke with Clemens Kaiser, Chief Program Officer, and Ronald van der Breggen, Chief Commercial Officer at Rivada Space Networks about the growth of optical satellite technology, and how linking satellites with light can create a data network in space to grow the industry in new ways.

Optical networks in space work in principle like those on the ground, but without cable. “Free space optics,” Kaiser explained, break the barrier, freeing the light from fiber so that lasers can link satellites with each other and the ground. That offers numerous advantages.

All about the Physics

Optical communications transmit data at high speeds, making it ideal for applications that require high bandwidth.

Kaiser explained Earth Observation as just one beneficiary. With satellite sensors that generate massive amounts of data, he said the RF downlink remains the bottleneck. Companies have “plenty of data and pictures,” but are looking for a better way to get it down.

Compared to the physical limitations of RF, “You can connect with more or less open-ended throughput.”

With optical, Kaiser explained, there is no limit to the data, and that a satellite can record over orbit and “permanently download” without waiting for data transfers or limits to recording time.

That, he said, “opens a completely new world” and step forward to support the continuous growth of the Earth observation market.

When asked what to do between the satellites, Kaiser said that much has been learned from the first-generation constellations, thanks to the work of OneWeb and Starlink, but that they still require gateways and have no interconnect between satellites.

Linking satellites creates an optical backbone in space so that the constellation can operate as a true data network. Rather than send data to a gateway to travel fiber on the ground, it can be passed from one satellite to another, closing the link in space between any two points on Earth,” he explained.

“That opens up a lot of new business opportunities beyond what’s currently happening.”

Mimicking the Ground

At an abstract level, Kaiser said the idea of putting “an IT network in the sky” is so it can operate like a terrestrial network and manage customer traffic from one point on the Earth to another.

“Forget the satellites, they are routers in the sky, nothing more.”

“An optical mesh allows plenty of new opportunities of services for customers that don’t know what they can do with that kind of a backbone in the sky,” Kaiser added.

By “mimicking” IT infrastructure on the ground in space, terrestrial and satellite can better integrate and the system can take advantage of the unique traits of each.

“Certain things perform better up in space than on the ground,” Kaiser said, citing the current crisis in Europe as an example.

Although space isn’t without risk, lifting vulnerable terrestrial infrastructure into orbit offers a safer alternative, he added.

Avoiding Hops and Hand-offs

Another advantage of an optical network that keeps data in a constellation is ultra-security. Global terrestrial networks move data over 3rd party metropolitan fiber systems, local exchanges, and transoceanic cable, all of which can be targeted, hit, or cut, van der Breggen explained.

Controlling a single network that carries data beginning to end not only provides security, but also similar performance and latency as terrestrial, Kaiser said, in some cases, even better.

“You can be more firm and strict in your SLAs, and lasers are an important part of that.”