Damage threshold testing of UV optics under a Titan environment for NASA’s Dragonfly Mission

Mullin, Matthew; Coyle, D. Barry; Trainer, M. G.; Stysley, Paul R.

doi:10.1117/12.2642897

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…The highest fluence optic in the UV optics chain is the ITMS window. 8 Figure 11. The Titan atmosphere laser damage experiment layout is shown.…”

Section: Titan Atmosphere Damage and Contamination Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Titan atmosphere analog gas cell was also mounted to a translation stage such that the losses and effects of all components in the optical test path could be positioned, monitored, and quantified with maximum precision. 8…”

Section: Titan Atmosphere Damage and Contamination Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 2 million shots this optic was exposed to accounts for ground test time during the laser build, the DraMS instrument integration, Dragonfly integration, 40 sample cup tests (which is over 3x the amount needed), and a 1.5x lifetime margin factor required by NASA GSFC standards. 8 Additional testing will be performed on UV optics under a Titan relevant environment during the flight laser build.…”

Section: Titan Atmosphere Damage and Contamination Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Technology development of a solid state 266 nm laser for NASA’s Dragonfly mission

Mullin¹,

Coyle²,

Stysley³

et al. 2023

Solid State Lasers XXXII: Technology and Devices

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NASA’s Dragonfly mission is a rotorcraft lander which will explore several geologic locations on Saturn’s moon, Titan and investigate evidence of surface-level prebiotic chemistry as well as search for chemical signatures of water-based and/or hydrocarbon-based life. To perform molecular composition investigations in-situ, the payload includes the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS), being developed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). DraMS will utilize laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) to interrogate surface samples and measure the organic composition. Enabling this science capability is the Throttled Hydrocarbon Analysis by Nanosecond Optical Source (THANOS) laser being developed at NASA-GSFC. The THANOS laser is comprised of a solid state, passively Q-Switched Nd:YAG oscillator which is frequency converted to 266 nm and utilizes a RTP high voltage electro-optic for pulse energy control. The laser outputs <2.0 ns pulses with a maximum energy of approximately 200 uJ which can be emitted in 1 - 50 shot bursts at 100 Hz while performing LDMS science operations. The laser has the capability to throttle its UV pulse energy output from full attenuation to maximum energy to provide varying levels of fluence on samples in the DraMS instrument. We report on the THANOS’ laser technology development and space qualification effort including vibration, thermal vacuum cycling, radiation as well as optical damage testing due to Titan’s atmospheric composition, performed at NASA-GSFC from 2019 through 2022.

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“…The highest fluence optic in the UV optics chain is the ITMS window. 8 Figure 11. The Titan atmosphere laser damage experiment layout is shown.…”

Section: Titan Atmosphere Damage and Contamination Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Titan Atmosphere Damage and Contamination Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Titan Atmosphere Damage and Contamination Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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