Downlink and uplink laser transmitters operational performance for the Deep Space Optical Communications project on the Psyche mission

The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) project, hosted on the Psyche spacecraft, has recently successfully completed its first year of operations. The flight system involved a laser transmitter assembly (LTA) capable of up to 4 W of average power at 1550 nm with data modulated at up to 267 Mbps using pulse position modulation (PPM) and leveraging telecom components in the design. The downlink laser transmitter operated for over 120 hrs on a weekly cadence at distances up to over 3 AU where 8 Mbps was demonstrated during nighttime operations. The uplink laser assembly (ULA) was integrated into the DSOC ground laser transmitter (GLT) facility at the JPL Optical Communication Telescope Lab and provided a beacon reference for the flight terminal with over 2 kW average power and an uplink data rate of 1.8 kbps at 1064 nm over the entire range. The ULA incorporated up to ten individual laser units based on commercial systems but modified to provide the uplink data modulation. Trends and performance data will be reported on for both systems along with an anomaly in the ground testing of the EM LTA.