|
The CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK) mission is a technology demonstration of a low size, weight, and power (SWaP) crosslink optical communication terminal. The 3U CLICK-A spacecraft is the first phase of the mission with a 1.2U optical communication downlink terminal. The twin 3U CLICK-B/C spacecraft are the second phase of the mission each with a 1.5U crosslink optical communication transceiver terminal. This work discusses the flight functional and environmental testing for the CLICK-A terminal as well as the optomechanical design and testing for the CLICK-B/C terminals. The CLICK-A terminal serves as a risk reduction effort for the CLICK-B/C terminals, whose goal is to establish a 20 Mbps intersatellite link at separations from 25 to 580 km. The CLICK-B/C terminals communicate with M-ary pulse position modulation (PPM) using a 200 mW erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). The payloads are capable of ranging up to a precision of 50 cm. CLICK-B & C will both be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) at the same time and fly in the same orbital plane. We begin by discussing the final integration and environmental testing results from the CLICK-A terminal, which was launched to the ISS in July 2022 and expected to be deployed in September 2022, as well as preparation of the CLICK optical ground station in Westford, MA. Second we present the CLICK-B/C flight terminal development. We describe the optomechanical design of the optical bench and its interface with the terminal. A prototype optical bench with the initial version of the CLICK-B/C optomechanical design has been built and tested. We also capture the lessons learned that have informed the building of an engineering development unit (EDU).
|
