Geostationary
LUCAS (JDRS-1)
Optical Data Relay · JAXA / Japan Ministry of Defense
Right now
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Japan's first optical inter-orbit communication relay satellite — the Japanese equivalent of Europe's EDRS-C. LUCAS (Laser Utilizing Communication System) uses laser links to relay data from Japanese government satellites at gigabit rates, feeding observation data to ground stations in near-real-time regardless of the source satellite's location. Japan designed LUCAS to support its ALOS-4 radar satellite and future intelligence satellites, dramatically improving the timeliness of imagery intelligence for Japanese defense applications.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Geostationaryappears to hang motionless over one spot on the equator
- Altitude
- 22,236–22,248 mi (35,786–35,804 km)
- Inclination
- 0.0°
- One orbit
- 23.9 hoursabout one orbit a day
- NORAD ID
- 47202
- Int’l designator
- 2020-089A
- Launched
- 2020
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
More geostationary
- LUCH-5AData Relay
- LUCH-5BData Relay
- LUCH-5VData Relay
- LUCH-5X (OLYMP-K 2)Signals Intelligence / Proximity Operations (Assessed)
- LUDI TANCE-4 01ALand Detection / Earth Observation
- MEASAT 3DMalaysian / Southeast Asian Broadband