Bi-directional ground-to-satellite laser communication experiments were successfully
performed between the optical ground station developed by the National Institute of
Information and Communications Technology (NICT), located in Koganei City in suburban
Tokyo, and a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, the “Kirari” Optical Inter-orbit Communications
Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS). The experiments were conducted in cooperation with
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and called the Kirari Optical …

(in English) In-orbit verification of the inter-orbit optical communication link experiment
between the Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS), which
is called” Kirari”, developed by JAXA and the ESA's ARTEMIS satellite was successfully
conducted in December, 2005. Kirari was launched by a Dnepr Launch Vehicle from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan and injected into LEO at an altitude of
610 km and an inclination of 97.8&# 730;. The functions of the satellite systems had been …