Design, development, and flight qualification of the optical receiver for the NEAR laser range finder

Mark T. Boies; Timothy D. Cole

doi:10.1117/12.243549

26 June 1996 Design, development, and flight qualification of the optical receiver for the NEAR laser range finder

Mark T. Boies, Timothy D. Cole

Proceedings Volume 2748, Laser Radar Technology and Applications; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.243549
Event: Aerospace/Defense Sensing and Controls, 1996, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Laser Rangefinder (NLR) is a bistatic system using a diode pumped Nd:YAG laser and a Dall-Kirkham telescope for a receiver. The NLR is one of a suite of five scientific data gathering instruments on the NEAR spacecraft. The NLR receiver is sensitive to incident IR radiation (1064 nm) and can detect return signals from the asteroid as low as 0.1 fJ per pulse, which corresponds to an average power of 9 nW (10 ns pulse). The design, development,a nd testing of the receiver will be discussed in this paper. Technological legacies from other space based programs were significant in meeting the schedule and cost requirements of a Discovery series program and will be discussed herein. Finally, the development of a cost effective, low impact, Level 50 clean area (pivotal in achieving the required environment for integration and test) will be presented.

Citation Download Citation

Mark T. Boies and Timothy D. Cole "Design, development, and flight qualification of the optical receiver for the NEAR laser range finder", Proc. SPIE 2748, Laser Radar Technology and Applications, (26 June 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.243549

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