Cailabs and Leaf Space explore managed optical ground services for satellite operators

• Cailabs and Leaf Space have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the International Space Summit in Paris to explore end-to-end optical data delivery from satellite to end user.
• The companies will assess co-locating Cailabs optical ground stations within Leaf Space’s ground station network, giving operators access to a wider choice of locations.
• Cailabs and Leaf Space will explore how optical downlink capacity could complement Leaf Space’s existing Ground Segment-as-a-Service offering.
• The agreement was signed at a ceremony witnessed by Adolfo Urso, Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy of Italy, and Benjamin Haddad, France’s Minister Delegate for European Affairs.

Paris – September 9, 2026 – Global deeptech company Cailabs, a world leader in advanced photonics, and Leaf Space, a leading provider of Ground Segment-as-a-Service, have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the integration of optical downlink capabilities into global managed ground services.

Under the agreement, Cailabs and Leaf Space will see whether Cailabs optical ground stations can be co-located within Leaf Space’s own ground station network or made available through its partners. The companies will explore suitable locations, the work needed to join their systems together, and the operating model for a wider service.

The MoU also covers a joint commercial strategy. The two companies will explore how Leaf Space, which supports more than 90 customers worldwide, could offer optical capacity to them as part of a managed ground service, one that would not require each operator to build and run its own optical ground network.

The two companies plan to run a pilot in which a satellite sends data to a Cailabs optical ground station deployed at a Leaf Space site. Leaf Space will then carry the data through its network and deliver it to the customer’s headquarters. The work will test the full route, not only the optical link between the satellite and the ground.

Satellites collect far more data than many radio-frequency links can bring back to Earth quickly. Optical links use narrow laser beams to carry data at high speed without needing licensed radio-frequency spectrum. Their beams also make them harder to detect, intercept or jam from outside the path of the link.

Because optical link availability depends on local weather conditions, site selection and network diversity are central to delivering a reliable service. Leaf Space’s network of more than 40 ground stations across more than 20 locations, combined with Cailabs’ optical ground stations would give satellite operators a greater number of ways to bring data down to Earth.

Jean-François Morizur, CEO and co-founder of Cailabs, said:

‘The value of optical communications will not come from optical performance alone. Customers also need suitable sites, reliable operations and a simple way to access the service.’

‘Working with Leaf Space allows us to explore how these elements could be brought together within a global ground service.’

Cristina Zanchi, CEO of Leaf Space, said:

“Leaf Space’s vision is an internet for space, where every satellite stays as connected as a device on Earth. Reaching that means treating ground infrastructure as one network that keeps expanding, in reach and in the types of link it carries.”

“Integrating Cailabs’ optical ground stations into that network is a step toward that vision, giving our customers another way to bring their data home without building and running a system of their own.”

Cailabs has six deployed and operable optical ground stations and more than 10 stations under contract. Its working deployments include stations in Rennes, France; the Perth area of Australia; Jeju Island, South Korea; and Greece. Leaf Space supports more than 90 customers through a network that already spans five continents, with more than 40 ground stations, ranging from Mexico and Chile to South Africa and New Zealand, among many other locations worldwide. A globally extended network offers a geographic and climatic diversity that is particularly valuable for optical link coverage, where local weather conditions directly affect availability. Such diversity is expected to be a key enabler of reliable optical downlink under the collaboration with Cailabs.

Together, Cailabs and Leaf Space will assess how optical downlink capacity can become part of a global managed ground service, giving satellite operators access to high-capacity links without requiring them to build and operate their own optical ground network.

The agreement was signed during the International Space Summit, held in Paris on 9 and 10 September 2026, at a ceremony witnessed by Adolfo Urso, Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy of Italy, and Roland Lescure, Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial, Energy and Digital Sovereignty of France. The summit brings together governments, space agencies, industry and researchers to address the challenges facing the space sector.