Multiple optical receive system for a single optical terminal: preliminary design

Current satellite optical communications systems, e.g. EDRS, include a single optical terminal for point-to-point links. In case of a hand-over to a next available location, the optical terminal must actively repoint and reacquire the signal. We investigate a novel satellite telescope design covering multiple optical ground stations within its field-of-view. Additionally, orbital perturbations, mainly the ones due to inclination, distort the received optical field over the period of one day and must be compensated for each link individually. We present preliminary design of the space telescope and focal-plane-array and plan of the following breadboarding activity