The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite - 2 Mission: A Global Geolocated Photon Product Derived From the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System.

The Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite - 2 (ICESat-2) observatory was launched on 15 September 2018 to measure ice sheet and glacier elevation change, sea ice freeboard, and enable the determination of the heights of Earth's forests. ICESat-2's laser altimeter, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) uses green (532 nm) laser light and single-photon sensitive detection to measure time of flight and subsequently surface height along each of its six beams. In this paper, we describe the major components of ATLAS, including the transmitter, the receiver and the components of the timing system.

Optical system design and integration of the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter.

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), developed for the 2009 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, is designed to measure the Moon's topography via laser ranging. A description of the LOLA optical system and its measured optical performance during instrument-level and spacecraft-level integration and testing are presented.

Performance modeling of an airborne Raman water-vapor lidar.

We have developed a sophisticated Raman lidar numerical model to simulate the performance of two ground-based Raman water-vapor lidar systems. After verifying the model using these ground-based measurements, we then used the model to simulate the water-vapor measurement capability of an airborne Raman lidar under both daytime and nighttime conditions for a wide range of water-vapor conditions. The results indicate that, under many circumstances, the daytime measurements possess comparable quality to an existing airborne differential absorption water-vapor lidar whereas the nighttime measurements have improved spatial and temporal resolution.

Remote detection of Raman scattering by use of a holographic optical element as a dispersive telescope.

We describe the retrieval of nighttime lidar profiles by use of a large holographic optical element to simultaneously collect and spectrally disperse Raman-shifted return signals. Results obtained with a 20-Hz, 6-mJ/pulse , frequency-tripled Nd:YAG source demonstrate profiles for atmospheric nitrogen with a range greater than 1 km for a time average of 26 s.

Optical system design and integration of the Mars Observer Laser Altimeter.

The Mars Observer Laser Altimeter, developed for flight on the Mars Observer spacecraft payload in September 1992, is designed to measure the topography of the Martian surface over a 2-year period from a 400-km mapping orbit. A 40 mJ pulse diode-pumped laser together with a 0.5-m-diameter beryllium telescope and a silicon avalanche photodiode are the principal optical subassemblies of this active remote-sensing instrument.