Efficient Swath Mapping Laser Altimetry Demonstration

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is in the process of completing the first year effort in a three-year Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) to develop and demonstrate technologies for a next-generation, efficient, swath mapping, space altimeter for Earth science. Our approach will ultimately allows for simultaneous measurements of 5-m spatial resolution topography and vegetation vertical structure with decimeter vertical precision in an elevation-imaging swath several km wide from a 400 km altitude Earth orbit to meet the goals of the Lidar Surface Topography (LIST) mission. Our IIP objective is to develop a highly efficient laser altimeter system that can be housed in a compact instrument providing data products that vastly exceed other instruments in the same class. The ultimate goal of a >15% wall plug efficient laser system coupled with a highly sensitive detector array is essential to realizing the ambitious global elevation mapping goals of the LIST mission. The key attributes of the LIST mission, as described in the NRC Earth Science Decadal Survey report, are: (1) a medium cost mission to be launched by NASA between 2016-2020; (2) a single-instrument payload carrying an imaging lidar at low Earth orbit; (3) one-time global mapping of land, ice sheet and glacier topography and vegetation structure through the duration of the mission; (4) observe topography and vegetation structure change through time in selected areas; and (5) achieve 5 m horizontal resolution, 0.1 m vertical precision, and absolute vertical accuracy for ground surface topography including where covered by vegetation. LIST is recommended as a third tiered mission with launch date no earlier than 2018. To achieve the IIP goals, we will use a single laser with beam dividing network to split a single beam into sixteen channels for mapping purpose. Backscatter from the surface is collected with a telescope and the spots from the swath are imaged onto a sensitive detector array. The output from each detector element is histogrammed and analyzed to determine ranges to the surface and derive echo waveforms that characterize the vertical structure of the surface. Multi-threshold signal processing technique allows for through-foliage interrogation in order to observe ground surface beneath vegetation cover and vegetation vertical structure. The approach is flexible and scalable in swath width, pixel width, laser power and telescope size. This work has considerable similarities and challenges as those faced by 3-D imaging laser radar (ladar) systems. In this paper, we will report on our first year effort in the development of a Yb:YAG microchip laser which is capable of delivering 0.1 mJ per pulse at a repetition rate of 10 kHz and ~ 1 nsec pulse width and a HgCdTe detector having a bandwidth of > 1 GHz. We will also present plans for Year 2 and 3 of the IIP.