{"id":80929,"date":"2026-08-11T21:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T13:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astrolight-atmos-partner-on-laser-comms-reentry-demo\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T21:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T13:42:14","slug":"astrolight-atmos-partner-on-laser-comms-reentry-demo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astrolight-atmos-partner-on-laser-comms-reentry-demo\/","title":{"rendered":"Astrolight, ATMOS Partner on Laser Comms Reentry Demo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[CDATA[<img width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/payloadspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/unnamed-9-200x200.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A rendering of PHOENIX 2 using Astrolight&#039;s laser comms. Image: ATMOS Space Cargo\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/payloadspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/unnamed-9-200x200.png 200w, https:\/\/payloadspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/unnamed-9-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/payloadspace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/unnamed-9-70x70.png 70w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/--><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ATMOS Space Cargo wants to livestream its downfall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s try that again: ATMOS announced an agreement with Lithuanian optical comms manufacturer Astrolight yesterday to fly a laser comms terminal onboard ATMOS\u2019 PHOENIX 2 reentry vehicle during a 2027 demo mission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The goal of the partnership is to allow ATMOS to beam large quantities of data back to operators during the high-speed portion of return-to-Earth missions\u2014where traditional RF comms links can degrade quickly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The mission: <\/strong>For the 2027 flight, Astrolight will fly its ATLAS-X laser-comms terminal on ATMOS\u2019 PHOENIX 2 reentry vehicle, as well as a terminal on a LEO satellite to enable spacecraft-to-satellite optical links. During the mission, these terminals will enable continuous, 2.5-Gbps connectivity as PHOENIX roars through the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new hardware aims to give ATMOS and payload operators real-time insights into both the health and trajectory of the vehicle, as well as the performance of onboard payloads before they can be physically recovered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As demand for reentry missions rises\u2014from companies attempting to build in-orbit manufacturing capabilities to defense ministries using reentry technology to test hypersonic components\u2014the need for real-time data is compounding, according to ATMOS CEO Sebastian Klaus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs cargo-return missions grow more autonomous and data-intensive, real-time connectivity across the entire mission cycle is becoming increasingly important,\u201d Klaus said in a statement. \u201cOur partnership with Astrolight is a step toward integrating laser communication into PHOENIX as a strategic layer for payload monitoring, autonomous de-orbit, and re-entry operations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lessons learned:<\/strong> The partnership isn\u2019t just building this capability on expectations of future data demands, however.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On ATMOS\u2019 first demo mission in April 2025, RF comms links did not provide sufficient data on the performance of one onboard payload: a lab-in-a-box from Frontier Space. This shortfall blocked Frontier officials from declaring a fully successful flight, and forced Frontier to wait for a second demo mission to confirm the in-space performance of its SpaceLab\u2014a mission it chose to fly on Orbital Paradigm\u2019s reentry vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>The post Astrolight, ATMOS Partner on Laser Comms Reentry Demo appeared first on Payload.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ATMOS Space Cargo wants to livestream its downfall. Let\u2019s try that again: ATMOS announced an agreement with Lithuanian optical comms manufacturer Astrolight yesterday to fly a laser comms terminal onboard ATMOS\u2019 PHOENIX 2 reentry vehicle during a 2027 demo mission. The goal of the partnership is to allow ATMOS to beam large quantities of data [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}