Orbiting and In-Situ Lidars for Earth and Planetary Applications

At NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), we have been developing spaceborne lidar instruments for Earth and planetary sciences. We have successfully flown several missions in the past based on mature diode pumped solid-state laser transmitters [1]. In recent years we have been developing advanced laser and photonics technologies for applications such as laser spectroscopy, laser communications, and interferometry. In this paper, we will discuss recent experimental progress on these systems and instrument prototypes for ongoing development efforts.