First Light – New Ground Station for Laser-Based SatCom in New Zealand Goes into Operation

As part of a collaboration with the University of Auckland, researchers from the DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation, the Responsive Space Cluster Competence Center and the German Space Operation Center have set up and commissioned a ground station for laser-based satellite communications in New Zealand. On February 14, 2025, the researchers were able to celebrate the telescope's first light: the OSIRIS terminal developed by the Institute of Communications and Navigation on board the Flying Laptop satellite (University of Stuttgart) transmitted a laser signal that was successfully detected by the ground station.