Earth-image tracking in the IR for deep space optical communications

Author

Hemmati, H. ; Chen, Y. ; Lee, S. ; Ortiz, G.G.

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

2005

fDate

25-27 July 2005

Firstpage

27

Lastpage

28

Abstract

Sub-microradian level laser beam pointing to an Earth-based receiver is required for deep space optical communications. This requires a beacon emanated from Earth towards the spacecraft. The beacon could be a laser or reflected sunlight from Earth. Earth image tracking in the visible is hampered by significant albedo variations and/or crescent Earth image yielding large central errors. Here, we report results of Earth-image tracking in the infrared (8 to 13 micron) region of the spectrum with the aim of substantially alleviating the two challenges mentioned earlier.

Keywords

Earth; infrared imaging; optical communication; optical tracking; space communication links; Earth-based receiver; Earth-image tracking; IR; beacon; deep space optical communications; infrared; reflected sunlight; spacecraft; submicroradian level laser beam; Earth; Infrared spectra; Laser beams; Optical fiber communication; Optical receivers; Optical sensors; Power lasers; Satellite ground stations; Space technology; Space vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

LEOS Summer Topical Meetings, 2005 Digest of the

ISSN

1099-4742

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8981-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/LEOSST.2005.1527976

Filename

1527976