Operations at the JPL OCTL Telescope

Abstract

The JPL Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (OCTL) is a 200 sq-m located at 2.2.km altitude in Wrightwood California and houses a state-of-the-art I-m telescope. The OCTL team is involved in the development of operational strategies for ground-to-space laser beam propagation for future NASA optical communications missions. Strategies include safe beam propagation through navigable air space, line of sight optical attenuation monitoring, adaptive optics, and multi-beam scintillation mitigation. This paper presents the results of recent operations at the OCTL facility including telescope characterization data and laser beam propagation experiments to Earth-orbiting retro-reflecting satellites; experiments that validate the telescope's tracking and blind-pointing performance and safe laser beam transmission procedures for propagating through navigable airspace.