Category:Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS)

**Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science**
	former experimental spacecraft communication instrument on the International Space Station
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Instance of	space instrument; communication device; technology demonstration; former entity;
Part of	International Space Station;
Country of origin	United States of America;
Connects with	ExPRESS Logistics Carrier;
Manufacturer	Jet Propulsion Laboratory;
Significant event	rocket launch (Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40, SpaceX CRS-3, 2014); connection (ExPRESS Logistics Carrier, 2014); project commissioning (2014–2014); service entry (2014); separation (ExPRESS Logistics Carrier, 2017); atmospheric entry (SpaceX CRS-10, 2017);
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English: OPALS (Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science) is an optical communication in outer space experiment developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the International Space Station. It will test the potential for using an optical laser to transmit data, at much higher rates than traditional space-based RF communications, to Earth from space. It was launched to the orbital station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 18 April 2014, as part of the unpressurized payload cargo of the SpaceX CRS-3 Dragon spacecraft.