Officina Stellare has been awarded a new contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to supply a comprehensive optical ground station (OGS) designed for laser communication applications. The contract spans 24 months and is valued at approximately €3.5 million, with Officina Stellare's portion amounting to around €2.4 million.
The project, named C3PO, entails two main phases: the initial phase involves the design and development of subsystems, valued at €1.5 million, while the subsequent phase focuses on prototyping and validating the OGS, estimated at €2 million.
The industrialized OGS under development will be deployed at the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, featuring capabilities for both classical and quantum communication. Key components include an adaptive optics system for fiber optic signal coupling, a laser beacon system, a high-performance telescope for precise pointing, and an operational control and orchestration system.
Officina Stellare leads the industrial team for the C3PO project and is tasked with designing and manufacturing the adaptive optical system in collaboration with Dynamic Optics. Work Microwave will handle the optical digital modem, while ThinkQuantum is responsible for quantum cryptography. Euroconsult is also contributing to the project's development.
In a statement regarding the contract, Gino Bucciol, Co-founder and VP of Business Development at Officina Stellare, expressed optimism about the project's significance: “We are enthusiastic about this important opportunity. It is a further step forward towards the creation of an all-European laser and quantum communication infrastructure and confirms the pioneering capabilities of Officina Stellare in this area, which will be of fundamental importance in guaranteeing secure communications from attacks in all sensitive fields, such as finance, critical infrastructures or military security.”