Bibcode
Comeron, Adolfo; Rubio, Juan A.; Belmonte, Aniceto M.; Garcia, Enrique; Prud'homme, Tony; Sodnik, Zoran; Connor, Chris
Bibliographical reference
Proc. SPIE Vol. 4678, p. 78-90, Eighth International Symposium on Atmospheric and Ocean Optics: Atmospheric Physics, Gelii A. Zherebtsov; Gennadii G. Matvienko; Viktor A. Banakh; Vladimir V. Koshelev; Eds.
Advertised on:
3
2002
Citations
2
Refereed citations
1
Description
Within the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA) SILEX project,
aimed at experimentally demonstrating the feasibility of inter-satellite
optical communications links, an Optical Ground Station (OGS) has been
built by ESA in the premises of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
(IAC, Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands) Observatory of
Teide, in the Tenerife island. The OGS is designed to test the optical
communications payload on board the ESA's Artemis satellite and to
perform ground-satellite optical communications experiments. As part of
the OGS design study, an assessment of the impact of the atmosphere on
the ground- satellite links was carried out. This assessment included
experimental characterizations of the atmospheric effects through both
measurements from stars in positions close to the Artemis one in bands
comprising the SILEX wavelengths, using the IAC's Mons telescope in the
Observatory of Teide, and measurements on a horizontal link with a
transmitter near the IAC's Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La
Palma island, based on a laser diode similar to those to be used in
SILEX, and a receiver in the Teide Observatory, almost 150 km apart, in
the Tenerife island. The 830-nm wavelength horizontal measurements
allowed checking the variations in the behavior of the atmospheric
turbulence through the diurnal cycle. Besides the information relevant
to assess the OGS performance, the horizontal-propagation experiments
allowed to gather a considerable amount of propagation data on a very
long path, most of it 2400 m above the sea.