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OICETS

A LEO laser-based optical communications testbed has been approved by NASDA for launch in 1997 on a J-l booster. Dubbed OICETS (Optical Inter-Orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite), the 500-kg class vehicle will be placed into a 500-km-high orbit and will work Directly with ESA's ARTEMIS satellite. OICETS will carry both S-band and laser communications packages. The rectangular spacecraft bus will be approximately 0.8 m x 1.1 m x 1.5 m with two solar arrays stretching a total span of nearly nine meters (References 178-181).

178. "Optical Communications Tests", Aviation Week and Space Technology, 27 July 1992, p. 13.

179. "Agencies Forge Pact", Space News, 12-18 December 1994, p. 23.

180. "Optical Inter-Orbit Communications", Spaceflight, April 1995, pp. 116-117.

181. B.I. Edelson, op. cit., pp. 259-268.

Sources and Resources

• Adapted from: Europe and Asia in Space 1993-1994, Nicholas Johnson and David Rodvold [Kaman Sciences / Air Force Phillips Laboratory]

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