BepiColombo Laser Altimeter
The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) is a laser altimeter and one of a total of 11 instruments on board the MPO (Mercury Planetary Orbiter) of the BepiColombo mission to Mercury, which was launched on October 20, 2018. BELA is developed and built by the Physics Institute of the University of Bern , the Institute for Planetary Research of the German Aerospace Center , the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in cooperation with industrial partners.
BELA sends out 10 laser pulses per second with a pulse energy of 50 mJ. This makes it possible to carry out measurements from a distance of up to 1050 km to the surface of Mercury. BELA uses a Nd: YAG laser that works at a wavelength of 1064 nm. The laser pulse reflected from the surface of Mercury is focused on optics by the telescope of the instrument and then detected by an avalanche photo diode.
A particular challenge in instrument development lies in the proximity to the sun and the associated high level of heat radiation on the space probe and the instrument. The heat radiation from the hot surface of Mercury also has a strong effect on the instrument design. Most noticeable are the baffles, which protect the laser and the telescope from strong solar and thermal radiation.
Web links
- DLR: BELA laser altimeter
- University of Bern: BELA and Laser Altimetry (English)
- N. Thomas et al .: The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA): Concept and baseline design (English; PDF; 879 kB)
- Karsten Seiferlin et al .: Design and manufacture of a lightweight reflective baffle for the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter, bibcode : 2007OptEn..46d3003S (English)
- Thomas Beck: The thermal behavior of the baffle and telescope of the BELA instrument (English)
- Reinald Kallenbach et al .: Space-qualified laser system for the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter , bibcode : 2013ApOpt..52.8732K (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fact Sheet. In: sci.esa.int. Retrieved January 16, 2017 .