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Infinite is almost to get some frickin' laser beams. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus Defense force and Space are fix to launch the first satellite for the European Information Relay Organisation (EDRS), an orbiting communications relay system using laser communication terminals (LCTs) capable of transmitting and receiving up to l terabytes of encrypted data a mean solar day in "near-real-time," said Michael Conscious, an ESA EDRS project manager.

EDRS "will dramatically improve access to fourth dimension-critical information, aiding disaster response by emergency services and maritime surveillance," too as existence utilized for intelligence gathering, environmental monitoring, and agriculture studies, Airbus said in a statement.

Part of ESA's SpaceDataHighway projection, EDRS will provide bi-directional data transfer betwixt earth-orbit satellites and ground stations, namely downlinking data from low-Earth orbit satellites, spacecraft, and other airbornes to the footing and uplinking tasking messages from the basis to spacecraft, Conscious explained during an ESA press conference earlier this calendar month.

At the heart of EDRS is a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation terminal developed and congenital past Airbus Defense and Space subsidiary TESAT-Spacecom with funding by the DLR High german Aerospace Heart, project directors said. The organisation features "optical laser transmission technology with up to 1.viii Gbps relay capabilities" as well equally traditional RF transmission relays offer upwards to 600 Mbps relay capability.

The partners aim to offer SpaceDataHighway services to international partners. Data tin be received via a planned EDRS ground station network or "directly at a customer's processing [and] archiving centers," Airbus said.

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ESA is set to launch EDRS-A, the first of two initial SpaceDataHighway communication relay satellites, by the end of the month. EDRS-C will exist placed in orbit soon thereafter to complete the first loftier-speed laser-based data transfer system in space offer services to international customers. The SpaceDataHighway linkup volition exist "capable of delivering 200 optical and 200 Ka-band links per solar day," according to Airbus.

EDRS-A and EDRS-C will be placed in geostationary orbit higher up Europe, then brainstorm providing "service for the Watch 1A and 2A satellites with upward to 30 optical links per day" as the systems' operational phase kicks off, Airbus said.

"This makes it ideal for relaying time-critical and sensitive information. Emergency response teams and security services can utilize EDRS to gain much faster access to Earth observation satellite information — fifty-fifty when in the field, when time is of the essence," the aerospace giant said.

ESA and Airbus programme to launch a tertiary EDRS satellite by 2020 to position in geostationary orbit over the the Asia-Pacific region, "offering opportunities for international partnerships [in the] Pacific Rim Surface area where we see an increasing need for information relay and airborne missions," Airbus said.