Laser Pointing Determination System for the Geoscience Laser Altimeter

Details Laser Pointing Determination System for the Geoscience Laser Altimeter Laser Pointing Determination System for the Geoscience Laser Altimeter

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003agufm.c32a0433s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #C32A-0433

Physics

Optics

1294 Instruments And Techniques

Scientific paper

The primary mission of the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), launched on the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation satellite (ICESat) January 12th, 2003, is to measure changes in the topography, and mass balance of the polar ice caps over 3 to 5 years. The altimetry measurement includes firing the laser at the surface at 40 Hz, collecting and timing the surface return. The time of flight is calculated to determine the elevation of the surface at each laser spot. The error of the measurement includes the accuracy of the dual frequency GPS solution for spacecraft position, timing uncertainty in the ranging measurement, and pointing knowledge of the laser with respect to inertial coordinates with an accuracy of 1.5 arcseconds (1 sigma) for every laser shot fired at 40 Hz. Therefore, a highly accurate means to determine the attitude with respect to inertial space for the laser beam was developed. This is the first time that a spaceborne laser altimeter system directly measures the pointing uncertainty of the laser beam resulting in a highly accurate altimetry measurement. The paper discusses the Stellar Reference System (SRS), which is comprised of two star trackers, one having a narrow field of view for increased accuracy, a hemispherical resonant gyro (HRG) and angle preserving beam steering optics. The paper summarizes the Stellar Reference System (SRS) design, error budget, and its pre-launch and on-orbit measurement performance.

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