Post by Thales Alenia Space

🛰️SOLiS: towards a new era of very high-speed laser communications We were pleased to welcome key partners from SOLiS project in Thales Alenia Space’s facilities in Cannes a few days ago! SOLiS (Secure Optical space Link Service) aims to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of an optical communications service relying on geostationary satellites. In 2026, Hellas Sat, the French Space Agency (CNES), and Safran signed a framework cooperation agreement to develop a next-generation optical communications system to be hosted on the future Hellas Sat 5 geostationary telecommunications satellite and the associated Optical ground station to be deployed in Cyprus. This partnership will deliver ultra-high-performance, very high-throughput data transfer services from geostationary orbit, enabling faster, more secure and more resilient satellite communications for critical applications. It is built on CNES’s SOLiS project, led by Thales Alenia Space as part of the space component of the France 2030 program launched by the French government, and will demonstrate very high-data-rate laser communications services through the atmosphere. Under this European cooperation, Thales Alenia Space will supply the SOLiS system and the onboard optical payload for the Hellas Sat 5 geostationary telecommunications satellite. Safran will provide a prototype commercial (“pilot”) ground station, which will be installed at Hellas Sat ’s teleport in Cyprus (CyOGS). Within SOLiS, this pilot station will communicate with CNES’s FrOGS multi-purpose station already operating at the Côte d’Azur Observatory on the Mediterranean coast. For the purpose of the service demonstration, FrOGS aims at emulating a user counterpart terminal. Made to revolutionize satellite telecommunications, free-space optical communications could become a new standard for secure, space-based data transmission, thanks to greatly enhanced capabilities that can deliver data rates on the order of a terabit per second — despite the distances involved and disruptions caused by atmospheric turbulences. It is designed to exchange thousands of TeraBytes per month to make intercontinental networks more resilient. Thanks to OGS Technologies and CNES for the opportunity to visit FrOGS, one of the Optical Ground Stations for SOLiS, located just 30 km from Cannes! Stay tuned for upcoming program milestones! CNES Hellas Sat Safran Bertin Technologies Cedrat Technologies Exail LUMIBIRD : the specialist in laser technologies OGS Technologies ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab Reuniwatt Thales SESO Thales Leonardo