For two decades, the need for ever-increasing capacity and speed to move data through our electronic devices has generated the deployment of millions of kilometers of optical fiber across the planet, thus enabling the creation of very high-speed networks. In telecommunications, the advantages linked to fiber optics, including high data rate and reliable transmission (EMI protection), have been known to engineers for a very long time. Today we consider technologies related to photonics to have reached maturity. However, for harsh environments, such as avionics and defense, key issues related to high temperatures, vibration, and shock must be considered to maximize the efficiency of optical technologies. In space, requirements are even more critical, as the photonic payload must also resist radiation, atomic oxygen, and outgassing.