Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales and Leonardo, has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for Element #2 of the HydRON (High-Throughput Optical Space Network) Demonstration System for the design, development, deployment, and in-orbit demonstration of a full end-to-end optical system to verify and validate an all-optical, multi-orbit, high data rate transport network in space. HydRON will use laser technology to allow data-collecting satellites to connect with other satellites and ground networks much faster, significantly enhancing the ability to collect and utilize data from space. Concept image of the HydRON optical communication network being developed as part of the ESA’s Optical and Quantum Communications ScyLight program. Courtesy of the European Space Agency. Thales Alenia Space has already coordinated a working group involving Telespazio — another joint venture between Leonardo and Thales, responsible for the ground segment — and other Italian and European companies for Phase A/B1 of the HydRON-DS project. This work was completed at the end of last year. Currently, Thales Alenia Space in Italy is ready to lead a European industry consortium for building the HydRON-DS Element #2 mission partition, including the space segment (low Earth orbit collector satellite and geostationary Earth orbit optical payload) and ground segment (two optical ground stations, mission and network control center, and satellite control center). The project will develop and validate two concepts. The first concept, Fiber in the Sky, entails multi-orbit optical telecommunications at high data rates between space and ground assets. The second concept, Internet beyond the Clouds, comprises innovative onboard routing techniques at high throughput (>100 Gbps) to build an optical space transport network seamlessly integrated with terrestrial fiber-based networks. The project includes up to two years of in-orbit demonstration to assess the capabilities of key technologies for optical communications and concepts of operations for the network architecture. It will also provide a service demonstration for potential demo users. The project will be conducted with the support of various space agencies involved in the challenge, including the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA), Enterprise Ireland (EI), and the Swiss Space Agency (SSO). Other agencies are expected to join during the project to expand the mission’s objectives. HydRON forms part of ESA’s Optical and Quantum Communications–ScyLight program within the Connectivity and Secure Communications directorate.