A space-readiness test for a new kind of laser
Craft Prospect has begun a project to investigate whether photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers, known as PCSELs, can become a practical technology for optical communications in space. The initiative, called PERSEUS, brings together Craft Prospect, the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics and Vector Photonics.
PERSEUS stands for PCSEL Environmental and Radiation Sensitivity: Evaluation for Use in Space. Its purpose is to move beyond the promise of an emerging component technology and examine how it performs under conditions relevant to launch and operation in space. The project will evaluate the lasers, assess their compatibility with representative spacecraft hardware and identify the engineering work still needed before a commercial system could be pursued.
Optical links are increasingly important for sending data between satellites and ground stations. Craft Prospect says PCSEL technology could offer a differentiated capability for both space-to-space and space-to-ground networks, while potentially helping address limitations of existing optical and radio-frequency communications systems.
Why optical links matter
Space communications must support growing volumes of data while operating across long distances and demanding environments. The PERSEUS partners are exploring PCSELs as a possible route to longer-range, higher-capacity and more secure free-space optical links between ground stations, satellites and potentially assets operating farther from Earth.
Free-space optical communications use light transmitted through open space rather than a physical fiber. For use beyond the laboratory, however, a laser must do more than demonstrate strong performance in a controlled environment. It must survive launch forces, radiation exposure and extreme thermal conditions, and it must work with the other hardware that makes an end-to-end communications system possible.
That gap between promising devices and usable spacecraft systems is the central focus of PERSEUS. The program is designed to chart a course from a disruptive photonics technology toward a differentiated on-orbit capability for the space market.
Testing for launch and orbital conditions
The project will subject PCSEL devices to test campaigns expected of technologies seeking space qualification. The planned work includes characterization and testing for radiation, vibration and thermal-vacuum conditions.
- Radiation testing will examine how the devices fare in a space-relevant radiation environment.
- Vibration testing will help assess their ability to withstand launch-related stresses.
- Thermal-vacuum testing will study performance under the temperature and vacuum conditions associated with space deployment.
These campaigns are intended to build understanding of how PCSELs respond to the launch and space environments. Rather than treating environmental resilience as an afterthought, the program puts it at the center of the technical evaluation. That is necessary for a component that would have to remain dependable as part of a spacecraft communications chain.
PERSEUS will also carry out long-range, high-bandwidth free-space demonstrations to show early performance. Those demonstrations are meant to connect device-level testing with communications use cases, giving the partners evidence about how the technology behaves in a link designed to carry data over distance.
From component testing to integration
A laser alone is not a communications system. Alongside environmental testing, the project will seek to demonstrate early integration with flight-representative hardware for end-to-end data transmission. This stage is important because compatibility with other spacecraft hardware can determine whether a promising component can move toward an actual mission architecture.
The partners also plan to develop mission concepts that make use of the distinctive capabilities they expect PCSELs could provide. The findings are intended to feed a future communications-system design concept and define an engineering roadmap for advancing the technology.
The result will not be an operational network. It is an evaluation and development effort aimed at answering the questions required before commercial deployment can be considered: whether the laser technology can tolerate relevant conditions, whether it can be integrated with representative hardware, and what engineering steps remain.
Partners and public funding
Craft Prospect is leading the project with support from Fraunhofer CAP and Vector Photonics. Craft Prospect’s Head of Engineering, Kevin Quillien, is project lead, supported by Chief Engineer Paul Yarr and systems engineers Lauryn Atkinson and Kairavi Pandit.
The work is funded through the Advanced Connectivity Technologies program, delivered by Innovate UK and funded by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The ACT research-and-development program was announced by Minister Ian Murray at Connected Britain on September 9, 2026.
The funding arrangement places the project within a broader effort to develop advanced connectivity technologies. In PERSEUS, that emphasis translates into a specific question for the space sector: whether a laser architecture with promising capabilities can meet the practical demands of spaceflight and data transmission.
What PERSEUS can establish
The most immediate outcome will be evidence, not a declaration that PCSELs are already space-qualified. The project is structured to establish the environmental sensitivity of the devices, demonstrate early data-link integration and set out the path to a more mature system design.
That approach acknowledges the difference between innovation at the component level and a technology ready for an orbital mission. Radiation, vibration, thermal-vacuum performance and hardware integration all need to be understood before a new optical source can credibly be positioned for spacecraft communications.
If the testing and demonstrations are successful, PERSEUS could give designers a clearer basis for considering PCSELs in future links between spacecraft, ground stations and potentially deeper-space assets. If it identifies limitations, that information would be equally useful in defining the engineering changes required. Either way, the project is an early step toward determining whether photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers can progress from an emerging photonics technology to a differentiated capability for high-performance space communications.
This article is based on reporting by SpaceNews. Read the original article.
Originally published on spacenews.com
