Recent Trends in Space Laser Communications for Small Satellites and Constellations

Space laser communications have been verified in orbit recently by a CubeSat microsatellite, which will revolutionize space systems architecture because this type of communication can realize high speed even with smaller and lighter equipment. Many satellite mega-constellations plan to use space laser communications owing to its high-capacity compared with radio frequency communications under the constraints imposed by the limited availability of radio frequency allocation. This paper presents the trends and future prospects of space laser communications.