Last week the Bartolomeo platform was successfully installed on the ISS, and fundamentally simplifies the operational capability and scientific resilience of the international space station. In-orbit testing, earth observation missions, space robotics, weather monitoring or exobiology experiments, all of this and much more will not only be more affordable and simple, no, the simplicity and, above all, the speed of data transmission will increase dramatically:

At the latest when the TOSIRIS sets out on the path to the ISS next year and is attached to the outer shell. The TOSIRIS is a handy laser communication terminal, barely bigger than a shoe box, which TESAT developed and built in cooperation with the DLR-IKN. The terminal weighing just about 9 kilograms will drastically revolutionize the communication between the ISS and Earth's surface once it has been commissioned, and transcends the space station into the Giga era with data transmission rates of up to 10 gigabits per second.

Technical info around the TOSIRIS:

• Laser communication terminal optimized for 60 cm aperture optical ground station with uplink beacon, 1550 nm IM DD technology, 10 min. communication time / ground station pass. Integrated terminal controller for autonomous terminal operation; integrated mass memory; uplink TC channel from optical ground station. Reference implementation for CCSDS standard.
• Channel data rates of up to 10 Gbps LEO to ground
• Power consumption of 90 - 130 W
• Ethernet or SpaceFibre data interface according to ECSS-E-ST-50-11C