Federal award (DEFINITIVE CONTRACT, fiscal year 2022)
Recipient: DRS NETWORK & IMAGING SYSTEMS LLC
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2011-09-29 to 2013-08-31
Current total value of award: $866842.84
Description: THIS EFFORT IS FOR A CO2 LASER SOUNDER AIRBORNE DEMONSTRATION FOR THE ASCENDS MISSION.  THE PURPOSE OF THIS EFFORT IS A LIDAR SYSTEM FOR THE DETECTION OF CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE IN SUPPORT OF NASA ASCENDS PROGRAM. THIS WORK WILL ACCELERATE THE ASCENDS MISSION BY UTILIZING SOLID STATE LOW NOISE HGCDTE E APD WITH HIGH BANDWIDTH, LOW NOISE, CMOS RTIA TO ACHIEVE PERFORMANCE SIGNIFICANT PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OVER CURRENT PMT AND DEMONSTRATING AND INTEGRATING THE REMAINING KEY TECHNOLOGY ELEMENTS FOR THE SPACE LIDAR. THE CONTRACTOR WILL LEVERAGE-IN NEW HIGH-PERFORMANCE AND HIGH-TRL COMPONENTS DEVELOPED FOR DOD, INCLUDING SPACE LASER POWER AMPLIFIER STAGES FROM RAYTHEON, AND HIGHLY SENSITIVE HGCDTE APD DETECTORS FROM DRS. WE WILL EVALUATE THEIR PERFORMANCE IN LAB TESTS, AND DEMONSTRATE THEM IN 13KM ALTITUDE AIRBORNE MEASUREMENTS USING SIMULATED SPACE GEOMETRIES. THIS WILL REDUCE THE RISK AND COST OF THE ASCENDS LIDAR, REDUCING THE SPACE LIDAR S DEVELOPMENT TIME. THIS WORK IS HIGHLY LEVERAGED BY THE EXISTING CAPABILITY THAT WE HAVE DEVELOPED UNDER THE PRESENT IIP EFFORT. IT IS AUGMENTED BY GSFC INTERNAL INVESTMENTS AND BY THE ASCENDS SCIENCE DEFINITION PROGRAM.  THE END RESULT OF THIS EFFORT WILL BE A CLOSED CYCLE COOLER CONTAINING A NIR SENSITIVE APD WITH PREAMP AND BUFFER AS FOLLOWS: - MINIMUM DETECTOR OPTICAL SIZE OF 150  M (ROUND OR SQUARE PIXEL)  - INTERMEDIATE DEMO DELIVERABLE AT THE END OF THE FIRST YEAR - LIDAR WILL BE INSTALLED IN AIRBORNE PLATFORM FOR FEASIBILITY TESTING