TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD): a demonstration of large-volume direct-to-Earth data transfer from low-Earth orbit

TLDR

Delivering large volumes of data from low‑Earth orbit to ground is difficult because direct‑to‑Earth links have short link durations, though optical links can achieve high data rates with small terminals and are not limited by spectrum, yet demonstrations have only reached 10–1,000 Mbps. The authors plan NASA’s TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system to demonstrate a direct‑to‑Earth optical link from a CubeSat at burst rates up to 200 Gbps. TBIRD will use a CubeSat in low‑Earth orbit to transmit burst optical data at up to 200 Gbps to a small ground terminal. The link can deliver over 50 TB per day from a small spacecraft to a single small ground terminal.

Abstract

Delivery of large volumes of data from low-Earth orbit to ground is challenging due to the short link durations associated with direct-to-Earth links. The short ranges that are typical for such links enable high data rates with small terminals. While the data rate for radio-frequency links is typically limited by available spectrum, optical links do not have such limitations. However, to date, demonstrations of optical links from low-Earth orbit to ground have been limited to ~10 to ~1000 Mbps. We describe plans for NASA's TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system, which will demonstrate a direct-to-Earth optical communication link from a CubeSat in low-Earth orbit at burst rates up to 200 Gbps. Such a link is capable of delivering >50 Terabytes per day from a small spacecraft to a single small ground terminal.