In 2008, the ESA used laser communication technology designed to transmit 1.8 Gbit/s across 45,000 km, the distance of a LEO-GEO link. Such a terminal was successfully tested during an in-orbit verification using the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X and the American NFIRE satellite. The two Laser Communication Terminals (LCT)[12] used during these tests were built by the German company Tesat-Spacecom[13] in cooperation with the German Aerospace Center (DLR).[14]