12 May 2026 year, the Singapore company Transcelestial announced, that conducted the test, during which ground stations in Singapore and Spain were able to detect and track laser transmissions from the satellite, built by Open Cosmos and launched last year. The company's co-founder and CEO Rohit Jha said, that this test is the last step before attempting to transmit data from the satellite to optical ground stations.
For reference: Transcelestial began with the development of terrestrial optical communication systems, and now moves on to space systems. The company sells terminals to several satellite manufacturers for intersatellite connections, and also for space-Earth communication.
The most difficult aspects of the deployment of space laser communication systems are considered by experts to ensure operational synchronous capture of the signal by the receiver and transmitter. The effectiveness of this process is reduced by atmospheric factors, in particular cloudiness, which interrupts the optical transmission, and high levels of background light pollution in urbanized areas, which complicates the detection of laser radiation from a satellite. The general director noted, that his company uses such methods, like optical filters on ground station telescopes to limit light to frequencies only, on which lasers work, as well as unique flicker patterns to distinguish the laser from other sources in the sky. After capturing from both sides, closed tracking can be used, to accompany the signal across the sky, using computer vision algorithms, that identify the laser and keep it in focus.
After a successful demonstration, the company moves to the next stage — testing a system for high-speed data transmission to Earth. At the same time, Transcelestial is working on new optical ground stations near Austin (Texas) and in Australia, and in the future plans to create a constellation of relay satellites for data transmission using optical communication.
Over the past five months, Transcelestial has signed contracts with five satellite developers to supply its terminals, in particular with the Australian company Gilmour Space. Rohit Jha Tsai noted, that the demand for optical terminals for satellites exceeds the supply, especially given the availability concerns due to the acquisition of Skyloom by IonQ and Mynaric by Rocket Lab. According to the general director's assessment, market conditions create a commercial advantage for Transcelestial: its terminals have four times smaller dimensions and a more attractive price compared to alternative solutions.
Source: https://spacenews.com