Emcore Corp. of Albuquerque, N.M., has announced full-scale production of its new 56-Gb/s 14 data rate (FDR) active optical cables for Ethernet router and switch applications, and computing. The cables are an addition to the company’s Connects Cables line. Emcore said it is the first manufacturer in full-scale production of 56-Gb/s FDR active optical cables, which are produced at its contract manufacturing facility in China. The cables provide the highest aggregated level of data throughput in a compact, lightweight form capable of supporting the bandwidth needs of advanced systems, the company said. In other news, Emcore was awarded a contract by ASRC Research and Technology Solutions for the design, manufacture and delivery of 32 solar panels for NASA Ames’ Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. LADEE is a robotic mission designed to orbit the moon to study and characterize its atmosphere. This includes fine dust particles suspended above the lunar surface. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in early 2013 aboard a Minotaur V vehicle from the Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va.