William Mamakos

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) Laser Transmitter

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), launched in January 2003, is a laser altimeter and lidar for the Earth Observing Systems (EOS) ICESat mission. GLAS accommodates three, sequentially operated, diode-pumped, solid-state, Nd:YAG laser transmitters. The laser transmitter requirements, design, and qualification test results for this space-based remote-sensing instrument is summarized and presented.

Optical system design and integration of the Mercury Laser Altimeter

The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA), developed for the 2004 MESSENGER mission to Mercury, is designed to measure the planets topography by laser ranging. A description of the MLA optical system and its measured optical performance during instrument-level and spacecraft-level integration and testing are presented.

Optical system design and integration of the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter.

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), developed for the 2009 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, is designed to measure the Moons topography via laser ranging. A description of the LOLA optical system and its measured optical performance during instrument-level and spacecraft-level integration and testing are presented.

The GLAS Laser Transmitter Breadboard

We have demonstrated a 150 mj, 4 ns, 40 Hz, M2 ≈ 2, diode-pumped Nd:YAG laser as a breadboard for the GLAS laser transmitter.

Space qualification of the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) laser transmitters

Summary from only given. We have completed the manufacture, space-qualification and delivery of three flight, diode pumped solid-state lasers for the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), the sole instrument for the ICESat (ice, cloud and land elevation satellite) mission scheduled to launch in early 2002.

Overview of space qualified solid state lasers development at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has been engaging in Earth and planetary science instruments development for many years. With stunning topographic details of the Mars surface to Earths surface maps and ice sheets dynamics of recent years, NASA GSFC has provided vast amount of scientific data products that gave detailed insights into Earths and planetary sciences. In this paper we will review the past and present of space-qualified laser programs at GSFC and offer insights into future laser based science instrumentations.

Fiber-based laser MOPA transmitter packaging for space environment

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has been developing lidar to remotely measure CO2 and CH4 in the Earth’s atmosphere. The ultimate goal is to make space-based satellite measurements with global coverage. We are working on maturing the technology readiness of a fiber-based, 1.57-micron wavelength laser transmitter designed for use in atmospheric CO2 remote-sensing. To this end, we are building a ruggedized prototype to demonstrate the required power and performance and survive the required environment. We are building a fiber-based master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) laser transmitter architecture. The laser is a wavelength-locked, single frequency, externally modulated DBR operating at 1.57-micron followed by erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. The last amplifier stage is a polarization-maintaining, very-large-mode-area fiber with ~1000 μm2 effective area pumped by a Raman fiber laser. The optical output is single-frequency, one microsecond pulses with >450 μJ pulse energy, 7.5 KHz repetition rate, single spatial mode, and < 20 dB polarization extinction.

Design considerations of the LOLA laser transmitter

We present the design of the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter laser transmitter which consists of two oscillators on a single bench, each capable of providing one billion shots.