The Na LGS generated by laser on the near space aircraft platform

Abstract We present a new configuration of the Na laser guide star (LGS) system with the laser source placed on the near space aircraft platform. Model of the Na LGS with the new configuration is established and the working principle is analyzed in detail. Under the rural environment with 23 km visibility and the H-V 5/7 atmospheric turbulent model, performances of the Na LGS with the new configuration and the conventional configuration are calculated, respectively. Results show that performance of the Na LGS can be significantly improved by using the new configuration, the uplink transmittance can be improved from 64.7% to 99.8%, diameter of the Na LGS can be decreased from 3.03 m to 0.36 m, and number of photons received can be improved from 536 photons cm −2  s −1 to 828 photons cm −2  s −1 .