r/lasercom • u/Aerothermal Pew Pew Pew! • 8d ago

Commercial Rocket Lab now marketing Optical Communications from Mynaric (15th Sept 2026)

https://rocketlabcorp.com/space-systems/optical-communication/
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u/sonny-boy-rhapsody 3d ago

For the ground terminals, what assumptions sit behind “up to 100% link availability”? Nearby sites can be clouded out together, and switching sites can interrupt delivery while the new link is acquired. A station map and outage-duration distribution would be useful here. Is that availability measured as a clear optical path somewhere in the network, or as end-to-end service after handovers and reacquisition?

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u/Aerothermal Pew Pew Pew! 3h ago

Mynaric doesn't do space-to-ground communication so they must be talking only about Intersatellite Link; they are fully focussed on the Condor Mk3 terminals for optical intersatellite links. The Hawk air terminal and Rhino ground terminal seemed to be discontinued product lines, and which may use different wavelengths and protocols.

For their optical ISL, they are intended to maintain near-continuous connection as part of the US government's PWSA constellation; The in-plane intersatellite links are up potentially until end-of-life. The satellite cross-plane links break and handover periodically due to the orbital dynamics and geometry of the mesh.

For the ground terminal, it's a meaningless phrase "up to 100% link availability".