Performance Testing of the Shuttle Laser Altimeter

A laser ranging instrument has been developed for altimetry measurements of the Earth's surface along the nadir track of the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle Laser Altimeter is designed for transmission of a short laser pulse and reception of the backscattered laser radiation from the Earth's surface. The source laser is a Q-switched Nd:YAG operating at its fundamental wavelength of 1.064 μm. A reflector telescope and silicon avalanche photodiode are the basis of the altimeter receiver. Laser, telescope, detector, data processing and storage electronics, and dc power supplies are packaged for spaceflight into two adjacent Get-Away-Special canisters. This provides the basis for a very compact and low-cost interface to the Space Shuttle.