LLCD operations using the Lunar Lasercom Ground Terminal

Abstract

The Lunar Lasercom Ground Terminal (LLGT) is the primary ground terminal for NASA’s Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD), which demonstrated for the first time high-rate duplex laser communication between Earth and satellite in orbit around the Moon. The LLGT employed a novel architecture featuring an array of telescopes and employed several novel technologies including a custom PM multimode fiber and high-performance cryogenic photon-counting detector arrays. An overview of the LLGT is presented along with selected results from the recently concluded LLCD.