Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
This paper describes the design, testing, and lessons learned during the development of the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) Beam Steering Mechanism (BSM). The BSM is a 2 degree-of-freedom tip-tilt mechanism for the purpose of pointing a flat mirror to tightly control the co-alignment of the transmitted laser and the receiver telescope of the ATLAS instrument. High resolution needs of the mission resulted in sub-arcsecond pointing and knowledge requirements, which have been met. Development of methodology to verify performance was a significant effortadvancement. The BSM will fly as part of the Ice, Cloud, and Elevation Satellite 2 Mission (ICESat 2), which is scheduled to be launched in 2017. The ICESat 2 primary mission is to map the earths surface topography for the determination of seasonal changes of ice sheet thickness as well as vegetation canopy thickness.
Keywords:
Spacecraft Instrumentation and Astrionics; Spacecraft Design, Testing and Performance
Type:
GSFC-E-DAA-TN31752
,
Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium; May 04, 2016 - May 06, 2016; Santa Clara, CA; United States
Format:
application/pdf
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