Shedding LITE on global climate
This article describes the Space Shuttle Discovery mission to carry a lidar-based sensing system that measured cloud formation and atmospheric conditions and transmitted the data to ground sites in 20 countries. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed the Lidar In-space Technology Experiment (LITE), a laser-based sensing system carried roughly 160 miles above the earth in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery. In the mission, which ran for 10 days last September, the LITE instrument used lidar (light identification, detection, and ranging) for the first time ever to measure cloud cover and atmospheric conditions. This data, which the system transmitted to ground sites, is expected to provide new insights into how clouds affect global climate.
- OSTI ID:
- 51736
- Journal Information:
- Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 117, Issue 4; Other Information: PBD: Apr 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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