May 5, 2020 – Airbus and Xenesis have signed a contract for a payload slot on the International Space Station (ISS) Bartolomeo platform for the demonstration of their Xen-Hub optical communication space terminal. The Xen-Hub is a greater than 10 gigabyte per second optical communications terminal. The terminal was enabled with a technology transfer from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is designed to increase satellite communications bandwidth. The Airbus-built Bartolomeo platform offers external science and payload hosting capabilities on the ISS, providing new opportunities for science and research. The platform, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was installed on the ISS Columbus module on 1st April. Bartolomeo was developed by Airbus using its own funds, is an investment of Airbus and is operated in a partnership with ESA, NASA and CASIS. The low orbit of the ISS offers a stable location for proving ultra-low latency communications, in excess of 10Gbs. Bartolomeo is located in an optimal position on the ISS, offering direct views of Earth from approximately 240 miles altitude, allowing Xen-Hub to maximize its pass time and increase the throughput of data.