Ever since trying the Orbital Ion Cannon from C&C red alert, I've had a dream of sending a laser into space (on purpose)
- while this certainly would be an interesting backstory, the truth is somewhat more boring...
When making cubesats and micro satellites, the data downlink is one of the more difficult and costly things. By moving from traditional radio-based downlinks to a optical system, data can be transferred much faster and hence more science can be conducted on the satellite.
This presentation will cover the current state of the project as well as some of the challenges that has been encountered.