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Development Effort of the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Laser Transmitter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

George B Shaw ,
Anthony W Yu  and
Anne-Marie D Novo-Gradac
George B Shaw
Affiliation:
[email protected], NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Laser & Electro-Optics Branch, Mail Code 554, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, United States, 301.286.3590
Anthony W Yu
Affiliation:
[email protected], NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Laser & Electro-Optics Branch, Mail Code 554, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, United States
Anne-Marie D Novo-Gradac
Affiliation:
[email protected], NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Laser & Electro-Optics Branch, Mail Code 554, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, United States
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Abstract

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) is one of six instruments on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) with the objectives to determine the global topography of the lunar surface at high resolution, measure landing site slopes and search for polar ices in shadowed regions. The LOLA laser transmitter is a passively q-switched cross-Porro resonator. The flight laser beryllium bench houses two oscillators (a primary oscillator and a cold spare). The two oscillators are designed to operate sequentially during the mission. The secondary laser will be turned on if the primary laser can no longer provide adequate scientific data products. All components used in the laser have space flight heritage. In this paper we will summarize the development effort of the LOLA laser including the material choice, design criteria and contamination control as applied to the flight laser build.

Keywords

laseropticalBe
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1076: Symposium K – Materials and Devices for Laser Remote Sensing and Optical Communication , 2008 , 1076-K04-04
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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References

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