Cislunar Omnidirectional Optical Terminal for Fast Connectivity and Accurate Navigation

Abstract

This paper discusses the development of an omnidirectional optical terminal (OOT) that will provide fast connectivity and navigation information to small spacecraft forming a swarm or a constellation in cislunar space. The cislunar OOT operates at 1550nm, employs a dodecahedron body holding 6 optical telescopes and 20 external arrays of detectors for angle-of-arrival determination. The cislunar OOT will provide full sky (4π steradian) coverage and gigabit connectivity among smallsats forming a swarm or constellation (e.g., LunaNet). The OOT will also provide continuous positional information among these spacecraft including bearing, elevation, and range. We also envision the OOT to provide fast low-latency connectivity to assets on the surface of the moon such as landers, rovers, instruments, and astronauts. In this paper we will present results of a thorough study of the cislunar OOT architecture including key factors that affect angular accuracy and available ranging techniques suitable for accurate range calculation. We also present design details that will lead to successful OOT prototype construction and testing. We believe that, once fully developed, the OOT will provide commercial, high data rate connectivity and navigation to future scientific, military, and commercial missions around cislunar space and beyond.