OPS-SAT VOLT Satellite - Nanosats Database

Name	OPS-SAT VOLT (Versatile Optical Laboratory for Telecommunications)
Form factor	CubeSat
Units or mass	16U
Status	not launched, expected in 2026
Launcher	not launched
Organization	Craft Prospect
Institution	Company
Entity	Commercial
Headquarters	UK
Manufacturer	AIVT by AAC Clyde Space
Operator	?
Costs	$2.5 million
Oneliner	Test and evaluate real-time techniques and technologies with a focus on optical and quantum direct to earth communication.
Description	The mission’s objective is to demonstrate products and services within a Versatile Optical Laboratory for Telecommunications (VOLT). Several capability demonstrations are planned, including quantum key delivery, optical communications, and hyperspectral imagery capture for climate resilience applications. Payload experimentation will be facilitated through a secure, reconfigurable high-performance computing system. Craft Prospect completes Phase 1 of Ops-Sat VOLT, 2024-05-16: Craft Prospect Ltd announced Wednesday the success of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for Ops-Sat VOLT (Versatile Optical Laboratory for Telecommunications), a groundbreaking CubeSat mission which the company is leading with support from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and involving a majority of UK and Scottish partners across the supply chain. The close-out of the PDR ends the first phase of Ops-Sat VOLT, a €17Mn mission with a payload designed by CPL comprised of three main components: a classical and quantum optical laser communication unit, an intelligent hyperspectral imager and processing chain for climate studies, and an experimenter platform enabling interested parties to perform in-orbit experiments. The mission is part of ESA’s ARTES Scylight programme for optical communications and follows the award-winning ‘Ops-Sat-1’ satellite from ESOC. It aims to test and evaluate secure, assured, real-time operational techniques and technologies with a focus on groundbreaking optical and quantum direct-to-earth communication. The success of the PDR reflects the work performed by CPL as mission lead and payload provider. It is also an endorsement of the collaboration between all eight partners involved on the mission to date, supported by ESA and UKSA.
Sources	[1] [2] [3]

Last modified: 2024-05-29