PTD 3 (TBIRD, Tyvak 0125)

PTD 3 [NASA Ames]

The PTD 3 (Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3) is a 6U CubeSat technology demonstration mission to demonstrate the new TBIRD laser communications system from MIT Lincoln Laboratory capable of sending large amounts of data to ground stations from low-Earth orbit. This system could deliver up to 10 terabytes of data per day to a ground station.

Each PTD mission consists of a 6-unit (6U) CubeSat weighing approximately 12 kilograms and measuring 30 cm × 25 cm × 10 cm. Each PTD spacecraft will also be equipped with deployable solar arrays that provide an average of 44 watts of power while in orbit.

The PTD-3 payload is the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery, or TBIRD, which is being developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington in collaboration with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Funding for the TBIRD technology payload is provided by NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program in the Space Operations Mission Directorate. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s (STMD) Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program provides funding for the spacecraft, mission operations, and launch. The communication system is intended to achieve an unprecedented 200 gigabit per second data downlink rate.

It was selected in 2020 by NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) to be launched as part of the ELaNa program.