Orbiting and In-Situ Lidars for Earth and Planetary Applications

• Published in: IEEE journal of selected topics in applied earth observations and remote sensing Vol. 14; pp. 8999 - 9011
• Main Authors: Yu, Anthony W., Troupaki, Elisavet, Li, Steven X., Coyle, D. Barry, Stysley, Paul, Numata, Kenji, Fahey, Molly E., Stephen, Mark A., Chen, Jeffrey R., Yang, Guangning, Micalizzi, Frankie, Merritt, Scott A., Lafon, Robert, Wu, Stewart, Yevick, Aaron, Jiao, Hua, Poulios, Demetrios, Mullin, Matthew, Bai, Ying Xin, Lee, Jane, Konoplev, Oleg, Vasilyev, Aleksey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Goddard Space Flight Center IEEE 01.01.2021; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Analytical methods; Fiber amplifier; fiber laser; Fiber lasers; Instrumentation And Photography; Instruments; Interferometry; Laser radar; Laser theory; Lasers; Lasers And Masers; Lidar; lidar instrument; Measurement by laser beam; Optical communication; Optical transmitters; Prototypes; Pump lasers; remote sensing; Solid state lasers; Space flight; space instrument; space laser; Spectroscopy; Transmitters
• ISSN: 1939-1404; 2151-1535
• DOI: 10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3103929

At NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, we have been developing spaceborne lidar instruments for space sciences. We have successfully flown several missions in the past based on mature diode pumped solid-state laser transmitters. In recent years, we have been developing advanced laser technologies for applications such as laser spectroscopy, laser communications, and interferometry. In this article, we will discuss recent experimental progress on these systems and instrument prototypes for ongoing development.