NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
On Orbit Receiver Performance Assessment of the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on ICESATThe GLAS instrument on the NASA's ICESat mission has provided over a billion measurements of the Earth surface elevation and atmosphere backscattering at both 532 and 1064-nm wavelengths. The receiver performance has stayed nearly unchanged since ICESat launch in January 2003. The altimeter receiver has achieved a less than 3-cm ranging accuracy when excluding the effects of the laser beam pointing angle determination uncertainties. The receiver can also detect surface echoes through clouds of one-way transmission as low as 5%. The 532-nm atmosphere backscattering receiver can measure aerosol and clouds with cross section as low as 1e-7/m.sr with a 1 second integration time and molecular backscattering from upper atmosphere with a 60 second integration time. The 1064-nm atmosphere backscattering receiver can measure aerosol and clouds with a cross section as low as 4e-6/m.sr. This paper gives a detailed assessment of the GLAS receiver performance based on the in-orbit calibration tests.
Document ID
20070010461
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Sun, Xiaoli (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Abshire, James B. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Spinhirne, James D. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
McGarry, Jan (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Jester, Peggy L. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Yi, Donghui (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Palm, Stephen P. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Lancaster, Redgie S. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2006
Subject Category
Spacecraft Instrumentation And Astrionics
Meeting Information
Meeting: 23rd International Laser Radar Converence
Location: Nara
Country: Japan
Start Date: July 23, 2006
End Date: July 28, 2006
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available