ALR - Laser altimeter for the ASTER deep space mission. Simulated operation above a surface with crater

17th Brazilian Colloquium on Orbital Dynamics

De Brum, A.G.V.^1 ; Da Cruz, F.C.^2 ; Hetem, A.^1

Universidade Federal Do ABC, UFABC, Santo-André, SP, Brazil^1

Universidade de Campinas, UNICAMP/IFGW, Campinas, SP, Brazil^2

关键词: Deep space missions;    Details extractions;    Homogeneous surfaces;    Instrument designs;    Instrument operation;    Operating principles;    Simulated operation;    Software simulator;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/641/1/012007/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/641/1/012007

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

To assist in the investigation of the triple asteroid system 2001-SN263, the deep space mission ASTER will carry onboard a laser altimeter. The instrument was named ALR and its development is now in progress. In order to help in the instrument design, with a view to the creation of software to control the instrument, a package of computer programs was produced to simulate the operation of a pulsed laser altimeter with operating principle based on the measurement of the time of flight of the travelling pulse. This software Simulator was called ALR-Sim, and the results obtained with its use represent what should be expected as return signal when laser pulses are fired toward a target, reflect on it and return to be detected by the instrument. The program was successfully tested with regard to some of the most common situations expected. It constitutes now the main workbench dedicated to the creation and testing of control software to embark in the ALR. In addition, the Simulator constitutes also an important tool to assist the creation of software to be used on Earth, in the processing and analysis of the data received from the instrument. This work presents the results obtained in the special case which involves the modeling of a surface with crater, along with the simulation of the instrument operation above this type of terrain. This study points out that the comparison of the wave form obtained as return signal after reflection of the laser pulse on the surface of the crater with the expected return signal in the case of a flat and homogeneous surface is a useful method that can be applied for terrain details extraction.