Measurement Capability, Heritage, and Technical Readiness of the Multi-beam Laser Altimeter for the DESDynI MIssion.
Bryan
Blair, NASA/GSFC, bryan.blair@nasa.gov
(Presenting)
Jon
Ranson, NASA/GSFC, kenneth.j.ranson@nasa.gov
Barry
Coyle, NASA/GSFC, barry.coyle@nasa.gov
NASA Goddard has developed a compact, cost-effective, efficient multi-beam lidar instrument design as a free-flyer mission. This instrument concept was submitted to the NRC Decadal survey RFI as BioMM-L and was incorporated into the DESDynI Mission concept. This lidar is based on the technically mature HOMER (High-Output, Maximum Efficiency Resonator) laser that has been successfully tested to 5 Billion shots and has a laser lifetime expectation exceeding 10 Billion shots per laser. HOMER is currently in the Engineering Test Unit phase where it is being characterized prior to environmental testing after which it will be at a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of 6. The Multi-beam Lidar can support 3 beams or more to achieve sufficient sampling of the Earth's surface. The lidar design has been optimized for capturing vegetation height and structure information from the Earth's surface. The multi-beam lidar utilizes a 250 Hz laser firing rate, multiple beams, and 20-25 m diameter laser spot on the ground to achieve the required 1 m height accuracy and global sampling. Compared to the current state of spaceborne lidar, i.e. ICESat, the DESDynI multi-beam Lidar will produce more than an order of magnitude more land surface samples, each with a vegetation height accuracy ~5X more accurate than has been achieved by ICESat.
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