Affiliations: European Space Agency, ESA/ESTEC, Instrument Technology Division, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands Tel.: +31 71 5653631; Fax: +31 71 5655430; E‐mail: [email protected]
Abstract: An overview is given of the intersatellite laser communication activities of the European Space Agency (ESA), focusing on the most recent systems and hardware technology efforts aimed at realizing small and compact laser terminals for worldwide mobile communication systems and satellite‐based data networks.