One beam, many possibilities: the ScyLight programme patch

Every day, satellites send gigantic amounts of information: secure communications, navigation signals and Earth observation images. All these applications compete for space in an increasingly congested radio-frequency spectrum. 

“As early as 2016, ESA’s ScyLight programme identified the transformative and disruptive potential of optical communications, guided by the vision that light-based technologies would address tomorrow’s communication challenges while making networks more resilient.” said Harald Hauschildt, one of the pioneers of the ScyLight Programme and Head of the Optical and Quantum Communication Office. “From the start, the programme was driven by the enormous capabilities of the technology transforming the satellite architecture into network nodes in space,” Harald adds. 

The programme patch captures this forward-looking ambition. 

A single beam enters from the left before becoming a spectrum of colours. Every colour represents a different way of making use of light; various technologies and applications coming from the same origin. 

A colourful spectrum

Some of these colours represent optical communications. By transmitting information with laser beams instead of radio waves, satellites can achieve data rates of up to trillions of bits per second while easing pressure on the radio-frequency spectrum. “With those rates, one could download tens of HD films per second,” added Christopher Vasko, ScyLight’s Innovation Engineer at ESA.  

Additionally, laser links use extremely narrow beams of light, making them more difficult to be intercepted or even detected. Building a multi-orbit optical network in space by using light is the vision behind ESA’s Hydron programme, a demonstrator of the disruptive capabilities of optical communication. HydRON's vision is to enable similar optical network capabilities in space, as we enjoy today in terrestrial fibre networks the backbone of our modern connected economy. 

Other colours point towards quantum technologies. Individual photons can be used to create cryptographic connections whose security is rooted in the laws of quantum physics. If someone tries to intercept the transmission, disturbances in the photons’ quantum states will reveal it. This technique, known as Quantum Communication, is one of the technologies ScyLight is helping mature for future space systems. One of the applications are Quantum Key Distribution Services demonstrated by ScyLight’s Eagle-1, INT-UQKD, , ORIOLE, VOLT and SAGA advancing QKD from space for different uses.   

The spectrum also reflects photonics: the technologies onboard the satellites that generate, manipulate and detect light. Though not as “flashy” as optical and quantum communications, photonics provides the building blocks that make both optical and quantum communications and networking possible. 

Light in the future

Ultimately, developments on light can lead to optical networks connecting Earth, space and potentially deep-space missions extending beyond Earth orbit. These networks could expand and improve the efficiency of existing systems and make them resilient, while also enabling new opportunities. For example, quantum networks could facilitate ultra-secure communications, global quantum information networks and distributed quantum sensing. More broadly, advances in quantum technologies may contribute to applications such as drug discovery and the development of better batteries and solar cells. 

To make these possibilities a reality, ScyLight's activities also include identifying critical capabilities, supporting European and Canadian industry, funding demonstrations and running system studies. This role reflects ScyLight's position as part of ESA's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme. 

“Ultimately, the patch reflects how one beam of light becomes many possibilities; light does not change, but our understanding of what we can do with it expands,” emphasizes Harald.