Laser Crosslink Experiment: Post-Mission Review

The Laser Crosslink Experiment (LaCE) was a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) microsatellite mission that flew between March 4, 2024, and May 18, 2025. LaCE was a two-CubeSat, multi-payload mission developed by Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC). Its major payloads included the CACI Skylight laser communication terminal, the ELROI optical beacon, the Vulcan CSR payload radio, and a newly developed NIWC Tracking, Telemetry, and Command (TT&C) ground operations center. Additionally, LaCE led to the development of the Stratospheric Optical Link Demonstration (SOLD) high-altitude balloon experiment, a companion mission which demonstrated the Skylight terminal in the stratosphere as a risk reduction and alternate execution path. LaCE was able to fully demonstrate the ELROI and CSR payloads but experienced on-orbit challenges which prevented full demonstration of the Skylight mission. In addition to its primary payload missions, LaCE-1 was operated through re-entry and performed a secondary vLEO profiling mission. NIWC considers LaCE an operational success and has developed several “best practice” operational lessons from the mission, including the value of stratospheric pre-launch test campaigns, the value of satellite telecom radios as backup systems, and the importance of precision Pointing, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) solutions for optical communications on orbit.