Low-Cost Direct Detect Spaceborne Lidar

LIDAR has widely been used to create very accurate 3-D models for use in a wide range of commercial, governmental and nonprofit applications. This thesis identifies how recent advancements in Nd:YAG fiber lasers and InGaAs GmAPDs could be applied to space-borne missions, enabling low-cost solutions...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: DeMello, John E
Other Authors: NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Flight Control and Instrumentation
Economics and Cost Analysis
Lasers and Masers
*ALTIMETERS
*LASERS
*LOW COSTS
*RADAR
*SPACEBORNE
ACCURACY
COST MODELS
COSTS
ESTIMATES
FIBERS
GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS
IRIDIUM
LAUNCH VEHICLES
MISSIONS
MODELS
ONBOARD
OPTICAL RADAR
PAYLOAD
RANGE(EXTREMES)
ROUGHNESS
SOLUTIONS(GENERAL)
SPACE BASED
SPACECRAFT
THESES
UNITED STATES
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
VEGETATION
YAG LASERS
LADAR
Ice Sheet
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA606955
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA606955
Description
Summary:LIDAR has widely been used to create very accurate 3-D models for use in a wide range of commercial, governmental and nonprofit applications. This thesis identifies how recent advancements in Nd:YAG fiber lasers and InGaAs GmAPDs could be applied to space-borne missions, enabling low-cost solutions that fulfill NASA's ICESat-2 and United States Geological Survey (USGS) objectives. An analysis of launch vehicles, standard spacecraft buses and payload technologies identified three potential low-cost solutions: one hosted aboard Iridium and two onboard a BCP2000 commercial bus. These systems were evaluated using NASA's mass-based and aperture-based cost models to provide a rough estimate of cost versus NASA's CALIPSO, ICESat-1 and ICESat-2 missions. Preliminary analysis shows a potential for these new technologies to outperform any previous space-based LIDAR mission. At $55M, the Iridium-hosted solution is 1/16th the cost of ICESat-2 at roughly one-third its capability. Two other solutions were estimated at $216.6M and $370.586M and provided over 3X and 10X the estimated capability of ICESat-2, respectively. Both systems are anticipated to fulfill NASA s ice sheet and vegetation objectives while delivering a return on investment of roughly $1B per year based on USGS s analysis of advanced 3-D data for the United States.

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