In late 2023, the French Defence Innovation Agency (AID), through the French Armament Directorate, launched a new satellite named Keraunos with the aid of two novel French Space companies, Cailabs and Unseenlabs. The project, along with others like Toutatis and Yoda, contribute to the French 2024-2030 Military Programming Law. The mission is meant to test the potential of space Optical-Laser Infrared (OLI) communications between space and ground segments of communications networks. During the summer of 2024, these three entities performed a successful test. The test was followed by a joint announcement on September 10th, 2024, claiming the world’s first stable OLI high-speed communications “end-to-end” downlink between a low orbit nanosatellite and an optical ground station, which lasted for several minutes. Despite the possibility of classified initiatives and recent breakthroughs by NASA, China, and others, this was the first commercial test of its sort, marking a new age for space to ground optical-laser infrared (OLI) communications.

France claims world’s first ground to space high-speed optical-laser link

Space/C4ISR / By

In late 2023, the French Defence Innovation Agency (AID) launched a new satellite named Keraunos with the aid of two novel French Space companies, Cailabs and Unseenlabs.