Deployable Optical Receiver Aperture (DORA)

Goal: DORA aims to improve satellite communications by creating a large collecting area and eliminating precision pointing accuracy requirements on the host spacecraft. The spacecraft will transmit one gigabyte/second over 1000 km with a 10° accuracy for bus pointing. Ideally, this satellite system would be one of many in a swarm and/or constellation providing exceptional crosslink communication and surface to orbit communication.

Partners: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Interplanetary Laboratory key contributions: We will use our attitude determination and control system (ADCS) testbed, Thermal Vacuum Chamber (TVAC) and vibration table for satellite testing to flight specifications.

To learn more: DORA project