The potential applications of space systems employing laser diodes in guidance, control, and scientific instruments have begun to emerge. For example, the Near Earth Asteroid Rondezvous (NEAR) project sponsored by NASA will contain a laser rangefinder. NEAR is a 4-year mission. For the first 3 years (about 26,000 h) it will cruise to the asteroid Eros, and its laser diodes will be dormant. A fourth year will be spent in orbit around Eros and will require the diodes to operate reliably for about 10,000 h. The array of laser diodes will be used to pump a Nd:YAG element in the Near laser transmitter.
Reliability of low-power laser diodes
Photonics for Space Environments III ; 1995 ; Orlando,FL,United States
Proc. SPIE ; 2482
1995-05-30
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
LASER DIODES Distributed multimode architectures deliver low-cost power and reliability
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