LatConnect 60 picks 10Gbps laser link to bypass RF bottlenecks for Earth-imaging data

Australian Earth-observation company LatConnect 60 (LC60) has signed a commercial contract with Singapore-based Transcelestial to equip its SWIRSAT-1 satellite with an optical communications terminal and gain access to Transcelestial's optical ground station network for space-to-ground data transport and station operations.

The agreement covers a flight terminal designed for data rates of up to 10Gbps, access to a ground network that currently has two operational stations and is expected to expand to five or six by the end of 2026, plus ongoing data transport and ground station operations. After the satellite is commissioned, these elements are intended to carry mission imagery from the spacecraft into LC60's processing and customer-delivery environment.

Dr. Mohammad Danesh, Co-Founder and CTO of Transcelestial, explained that Earth-observation operators are collecting far more data than they can get to the ground. Radio-frequency downlinks are spectrum-constrained, heavily license-dependent and expensive per gigabyte. What LatConnect 60 is buying, he said, is a high-capacity optical path plus the ground network to terminate it, purchased as a service — with no spectrum licensing required and no optical ground segment for the customer to build.

Venkat Pillay, Founder and CEO of LatConnect 60, emphasized that for an Earth-intelligence mission, the sensor and the data path cannot be treated separately. The mission only creates value when high-volume shortwave infrared (SWIR) imagery can be moved from collection to users within useful delivery windows. Transcelestial's terminal, he added, will reduce the time needed to clear imagery from the SWIRSAT satellites.

The contract structure lets satellite operators procure the flight terminal and ground connectivity as a single service, rather than fund, build and operate their own optical ground infrastructure. By bundling hardware and network access into one offering, Transcelestial aims to lower the entry barrier for operators who need high-speed downlinks but lack the capital or expertise to deploy optical ground stations themselves.