FrOGS: French Optical Ground Station for space laser applications

This paper presents a new French Optical Ground Station (FrOGS) that is currently being developed, at the French Riviera observatory close to Grasse. This development is supported by CNES and co-financed by a consortium of industrials: Safran Data System, OGS Technologies, ALPAO, and Airbus Defence and Space. The article presents the versatile architecture of the optical ground station. The optical instrument can be used for various applications, and optical benches are application-specific. The two main applications that are currently implemented in the station are LEO direct to earth data repatriation and satCOM feederlink. FrOGS will be indeed used as the reference OGS of the LEO to ground demonstration LASIN [1], and building blocks for optical feeder link will be tested during the GEO to ground demonstration TELEO [2].