A space active optical cable (SAOC) includes a cable including one or more optical fibers, and two or more electrical transceivers on opposing ends of the cable and interconnected by the cable. Each of the electrical transceivers includes an enclosure that encloses one or more light sources, one or more light detectors, and control electronics. Also included in the enclosure are a coupling medium to couple light into and out of the one or more optical fibers. The coupling medium can be reflecting surface or an on-axis mount. The enclosure provides a suitable heat propagation and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and the cable and the two or more electrical transceivers are radiation resistant. SAOC features optionally support a health check algorithm that allows trending optical performance in the absence of an optical connector and a potential surface treatment to increase nominally low emissivity of an EMI conductive surface.