Optical communications payload for the Mexican nanosatellite project SENSAT

In this work we first present the SATEX 1 microsatellite project, as our initial experience in space optical communications; we then describe the current activities on the design and development of the SENSAT 1 nanosatellite and especially its optical communications payload, consisting of an 830 nm downlink optical transmitter for data communications, with a 532 nm uplink as a beacon for pointing, including both on board and optical ground station segments. We also mention the associated activities on technology demonstration for human resources development with modern web resources. Finally we discuss our activities on collaboration links with Mexican and international partners for capacity building in optical space communications, aiming to more complex joint projects in the future.