Estimation of availability decline due to atmospheric effect on satellite-to-Earth optical communication link

The estimation method of availability decline due to atmospheric effect on Satellite-to-Earth optical communication link considering cloudiness, meteorological range of visibility and multiple ground stations effect is proposed. Using meteorological data for 2000-2012 the combination of ground stations related to existing meteorological stations that gives maximum availability is defined. It is shown that availability decline due to atmospheric effects may be reduced to 0.9 using 5 spaced ground stations. The method may be applied while developing the next-generation space communication systems.