Fibre coupled laser diodes manufactured by AMS Technologies' partner, Eagleyard Photonics, recently landed successfully on board the International Space Station after the successful launch of SpaceX on 10th of January 2015.
The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is a lidar remote sensing instrument that provides range-resolved profile measurements of atmospheric aerosols and clouds from the International Space Station (ISS). CATS is intended to operate on-orbit for at least six months, and up to three years.
The eagleyard DFB1064 laser diodes are used as a seed source component for an integrated light detection and ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing instrument designed by a one of our lead customers in the US.
“eagleyard’s space qualified laser diodes are known for their robust housing and proven quality to withstand harsh environments” so Michael Kneier, VP Sales and Marketing at eagleyard Photonics. “This is why our laser diodes got chosen to be part of the CATS (Cloud Aerosol Transport System) project.”
The laser diode delivers three laser outputs at 1064 nm, 532 nm and 355 nm (2nd and 3rd harmonics of 1064 nm) to derive properties of cloud and aerosol layers.