K. E. Wilson (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology), M. Wright (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology), M. Troy (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology), J. Roberts (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology), J. Kovalik (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology), W.T. Roberts (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology)
Keywords: Lasers
Abstract:
The Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory is a state-of-the-art facility located at 2.2-km altitude on Table Mountain Wrightwood, CA. Designed for nighttime and daytime operation, the 1-m OCTL telescope tracks targets as close as 10-degrees to the sun, and satellites as low as 250-km. Maximum slew rates are 10 deg/sec elevation and 20 deg/sec azimuth. Research projects at the OCTL include passive and active satellite tracking of retro-reflecting satellites, technology development for safe laser beam transmission into deep space, line-of-sight cloud detection, and adaptive optics correction of atmosphere-induced optical wavefront aberrations. OCTL tracks LEO, MEO and HEO satellites and is authorized by various satellite owners to transmit 532-nm and 1064-nm laser beams to several of their retro-reflector bearing satellites; work that is currently under development. Our strategies for safe laser transmission through navigable airspace have been coordinated with the FAA, and use the JPL three-tiered laser beam propagation system. Laser transmission is also coordinated with the Laser Clearinghouse that provides daily predictive avoidance windows for transmission to target satellites. Backscatter from clouds along the uplink line-of-sight is measured by a 0.15 degree field-of-view 20-cm acquisition telescope bore sighted with the 1-m telescope transmitter. Designed for daytime wavefront correction, the ninety-seven actuator deformable mirror across the 1-m makes the OCTL adaptive optics system has one of the highest actuator densities in operation. This paper describes early results from these research areas.
Date of Conference: September 10-14, 2006
Track: Lasers