Beam Steering Mechanism (BSM) Lessons Learned.

摘要

This paper describes the design, testing, and lessons learned during the development of the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) Beam Steering Mechanism (BSM). The BSM is a 2 degree-of-freedom tip-tilt mechanism for the purpose of pointing a flat mirror to tightly control the co-alignment of the transmitted laser and the receiver telescope of the ATLAS instrument. High resolution needs of the mission resulted in sub-arcsecond pointing and knowledge requirements, which have been met. Development of methodology to verify performance was a significant effortadvancement. The BSM will fly as part of the Ice, Cloud, and Elevation Satellite 2 Mission (ICESat 2), which is scheduled to be launched in 2017. The ICESat 2 primary mission is to map the earths surface topography for the determination of seasonal changes of ice sheet thickness as well as vegetation canopy thickness.