From Orlando to Deep Space: Supporting Missions with Optics and Photonics

CACI solutions are at work across the orbit spectrum, including on NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment

Space lasers. Vast amounts of data transmitted at the speed of light. An experiment onboard a mission to examine a metal-rich asteroid and suspected failed planet between Mars and Jupiter.

There’s no fiction involved in this science. Whether the purpose is to better understand our solar system or provide secure communications to those serving our nation, CACI is designing, manufacturing, and supporting the critical optical and photonic technology making it all happen. For years, the company has been building a space technology portfolio for every mission class, from low earth to deep space. Such investments include the recent expansion of its premier optical manufacturing facility in Orlando, Florida, for production and testing of space-based hardware.

“We’re making real advances in optical technologies for national security missions and the federal government civilian sector,” said Linda Braun, Vice President of Optical and Photonics Systems at CACI, headquartered in Virginia. “We’ve invested ahead of the need for these missions and for our customers.”  

Optical and photonic technology: Secure, fast communications

When compared to radio frequency (RF) signals, there are inherent advantages with optics and photonics, a sub-branch of optics that includes light photon manipulation and lasers. RF signals are more spread out and easier to detect, intercept, and manipulate. For example, think of RF as a floodlight that lights up a field, and optical as a flashlight that only lights up the tree at which it is pointed. In addition, RF communications requires the use and licensing of increasingly occupied bandwidths, while optical technology avoids this issue altogether.

The more-focused optical signal also has another benefit as compared to RF: bandwidth. For example, CACI’s products can transmit data 10x–100x faster than a typical RF system. CACI is also developing core technology for remote optical-sensing light detection and ranging systems (LiDAR). LiDAR is essentially the light equivalent of radar and can perform many of the same capabilities. This optical sensing technique also provides many of the same inherent advantages over RF sensing. 

CrossBeam, Thor, and a deep space laser

Among the optical communication terminals that CACI produces for satellites and airborne platforms is CrossBeam™, which is slated for use in the Space Development Agency’s proliferated low earth orbit (LEO) communication satellite network. CrossBeam™ is also available for the medium earth orbit (MEO) market, and the company also provides similar solutions for geostationary orbit.

“We have terminals for all of the major orbits that customers are trying to deploy in. We have all orbits covered, and we also have airborne terminals as well,” said Braun, referring to products such as the Thor Airborne Optical communication terminal for air-to-space communication currently under demonstration with the Air Force.

Then there’s NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment onboard its Psyche spacecraft, currently heading toward an asteroid of the same name. The iron-rich asteroid is a suspected planetesimal, or the main building block of a rocky planet, and located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter between 186 million to 372 million miles away, depending on orbit.

DSOC, supported by CACI laser communications technology, is the first optical communications system beyond the Earth-Moon system. A one-year experiment, it is a pathfinder mission to send data to Earth while the spacecraft is in route to the asteroid belt. DSOC conducted its first successful test in December 2023 from 16 million miles away and has since transmitted from over 140 million miles away.

Expanding one of the nation’s premier optical manufacturing facilities

Back on Earth, these solutions are being manufactured in Orlando at CACI’s space manufacturing and testing facility, which opened in June 2022 and will double to roughly 30,000 sq. ft. when expansion is completed in late 2024. The facility is dedicated to full-rate production and testing of space flight hardware such as optical communication terminals, laser transmitters, and other optical-based products.

“We have already run out of space in terms of the manufacturing at this facility,” Braun said. “It’s why we're expanding this facility and it's very exciting. It is a premier optical manufacturing facility in the United States.”

“It is going to open up what CACI can do with optical technology to support our customer’s mission needs."

Well-positioned for the discoveries and missions of today and tomorrow

CACI’s diverse portfolio of optical communications, sensing, and signal processing technology covers the mission spectrum, from the sea to the ground to the skies above. Differentiating itself as a provider of advanced solutions, from ideation to mission completion, CACI is well-positioned to provide technology that continues to serve both national security and space exploration missions.

“CACI’s investments have allowed us to have the right products at the right time as this market is exploding,” Braun said. “We see exponential growth ahead in this marketplace because of the kinds of missions that this technology supports, both in optical communications and optical sensing.”