On-orbit results of pointing, acquisition, and tracking for the TBIRD CubeSat mission

Abstract

Since launch in May 2022, the TeraByte Infrared Delivery (TBIRD) payload on a 6U CubeSat has successfully demonstrated 100/200 Gbps laser communications and has transferred >1 TB in a pass from low Earth orbit to ground. To support the narrow downlink beam needed for high rate communications, the payload provides pointing feedback to the host spacecraft to precisely track the ground station throughout the 5-minute pass. This paper presents the on-orbit results of the pointing and tracking system for TBIRD, including initial acquisition and closed-loop tracking performance of 20-35 µrad RMS per axis. Results from on-orbit characterization of the transmit beam are also presented. Measurements of Tx/Rx alignment show stability within 20 µrad, ensuring that tracking on the uplink accurately points the downlink.

High-rate 256+ Gbit/s laser communications for enhanced high-resolution imaging using space-based very long baseline interferometry (VLBI)

“…Of these, the TBIRD demonstration is the closest performance match to the EHE application. TBIRD was recently launched in May 2022 and demonstrates up to 200 Gbps communications from low-earth orbit to ground in a cubesat package [20][21][22]. The TBIRD payload is shown in Figure 5 (left).…”