The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA): Concept and baseline design

Thomas, N.; Spohn, Tilman; Barriot, J. P.; Benz, W.; Beutler, Gerhard; Christensen, Ulrich R.; Déhant, V.; Fallnich, Carsten; Giardini, Domenico; Groussin, O.; Gunderson, K.; Hauber, Ernst; Hilchenbach, M.; Iess, L.; Lamy, P.; Lara, L. M.; Lognonné, Philippe; Moreno, J. J. Lopez; Michaelis, H.; Oberst, J.; Resendes, D. P.; Reynaud, J.-L.; Rodrigo, R.; Sasaki, Sho; Seiferlin, K.; Wieczorek, M. A.; Whitby, J. A.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2007.03.003

Cited by 80 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…1) is a bistatic system. This means, the transmitter and receiver are separate systems, which has the practical advantage for parallel development at different locations [22,36,37]. The main design driver for both the transmitter and the receiver is the challenging link budget to be met by the BELA instrument over the large distance between the MPO spacecraft and Mercury's surface.…”

Section: A Requirements From the Link Budgetmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1. Left: BELA laser transmitter integrated with the receiver [22]. 1, Receiver baffle unit [23]; 2, receiver telescope covered by multilayer insulation; 3, carbon-fiber-enforced aluminum honeycomb baseplate; 4, focal plane assembly; 5, analog electronics unit of the receiver; 6, laser electronics unit (LEU); 7, electronics unit including power converter module, data processing module, and rangefinder module; 8, laser head box (LHB); 9, stray light protection unit; 10, transmitter baffle unit.…”

Section: B Technical Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…BELA will become the first laser altimeter on a planetary mission of ESA [22][23][24][25]. It will form an integral part of a larger geodesy and geophysics package on board the MPO, incorporating a radio science experiment [26], an accelerometer [27], a magnetometer [28], and a stereo-imaging camera [29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Space-qualified laser system for the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter

et al. 2013

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The space-qualified design of a miniaturized laser for pulsed operation at a wavelength of 1064 nm and at repetition rates up to 10 Hz is presented. This laser consists of a pair of diode-laser pumped, actively q-switched Nd:YAG rod oscillators hermetically sealed and encapsulated in an environment of dry synthetic air. The system delivers at least 300 million laser pulses with 50 mJ energy and 5 ns pulse width (FWHM). It will be launched in 2017 aboard European Space Agency's Mercury Planetary Orbiter as part of the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter, which, after a 6-years cruise, will start recording topographic data from orbital altitudes between 400 and 1500 km above Mercury's surface.

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Section: A Requirements From the Link Budgetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Technical Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Space-qualified laser system for the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter

et al. 2013

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“…The ESA's BepiColombo mission to Mercury will carry a laser altimeter system called BELA [10]. It is to be expected that in the future, laser altimeters will be a standard element of the scientific payload of most planetary missions to objects with low atmospheric opacities.…”

Section: A Laser Altimetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The on-board electronics then derives the time of flight and thus the distance between the spacecraft and the surface of the planet, as well as some geometric characteristics of the reflected pulse used to retrieve information on Mercury's surface. A complete and detailed description of the BELA instrument is provided by [10].…”

Section: Belamentioning

confidence: 99%

High accuracy alignment facility for the receiver and transmitter of the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter

et al. 2012

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The accurate co-alignment of the transmitter to the receiver of the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter is a challenging task for which an original alignment concept had to be developed. We present here the design, construction and testing of a large collimator facility built to fulfill the tight alignment requirements. We describe in detail the solution found to attenuate the high energy of the instrument laser transmitter by an original beam splitting pentaprism group. We list the different steps of the calibration of the alignment facility and estimate the errors made at each of these steps. We finally prove that the current facility is ready for the alignment of the flight instrument. Its angular accuracy is 23 μrad.

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Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) From Space – Laser Altimeters

Sun

2016

Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

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Light detection and ranging, or lidars, have emerged as a type of powerful tools in remote sensing from space. Compared with radars, lidars operate at a much shorter wavelength with a much narrower beam and smaller transmitter and receiver. Compared with passive remote sensing instruments, lidars carry their own light sources and can continue measurement day and night, and over polar region. Compared with spectrometers, lidars offer a much higher spectral resolution and consistent illumination and observation angles. This article gives a brief review of the development of space lidars used in planetary surface elevation and reflection measurements, including the history of laser altimeters in space, basic instrument design, and the trend of the technology development.

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The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA): Concept and baseline design

Cited by 80 publications

References 17 publications

Space-qualified laser system for the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter

Space-qualified laser system for the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter

High accuracy alignment facility for the receiver and transmitter of the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) From Space – Laser Altimeters

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