OPALS Concept of Operations
<ol><li>Telescope points to the ISS using orbital predictions (no active tracking on the ground)</li>
<li>The ISS rises above tree-line elevation (approx. 25 degrees)</li>
<li>Flight System detects the beacon on the camera and steers the gimbal to center on it.</li>
<li>Communication laser is modulated with the video data as soon as the pass starts.</li>
<li>Active tracking of beacon continues and video data is looped throughout the pass.</li>
<li>Contact lasts approximately 100 seconds</li>
<li>Flight and Ground Systems commence their post-Demonstration activities at a predetermined time</li></ol>
NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
<bdo lang="en" dir="ltr" title="archived on 24 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161224161054/http://phaeton.jpl.nasa.gov/external/projects/optical.cfm">Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS)</a></bdo>