To address the urgent need for 3D flash-lidar technology for landing on solar system bodies and for spacecraft rendezvous and docking with satellites, an effort is proposed to fabricate, characterize, and test a versatile, high-sensitivity InGaAs APD 3D flash lidar and to advance the technology-readiness level (TRL) of lidar technologies suitable for NASA mission requirements. Leveraging an existing InGaAs APD focal-plane array (FPA) technology, improvements will be made to increase its reliability and performance. The high-gain, low-excess-noise APD FPAs will be characterized and integrated with miniature camera electronics, along with a medium-pulse-energy, high-repetition-rate, ultra-compact, pulsed diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser. The lidar sensor will be shown to meet NASA needs in terms of sensitivity and 5-cm range resolutions. Using these results, a large-format (e.g. 1024 x 1024, or larger) FPA will be designed for qualification for space missions.

The innovation satisfies NASA’s need for lidar receivers for precision landing on solar-system bodies and spacecraft rendezvous/docking with satellites/asteroids. Applications include: asteroid sample return/redirect, space-debris removal, manned moon/Mars landing, lunar mining, autonomous resupply and crew transportation to/from the ISS, robotic servicing/refueling of orbital assets, on-orbit assembly, ranging and altimetry, atmospheric profiling, vegetation canopy height, topography of planetary surfaces, and mapping of near-Earth asteroids.

Lidar is disrupting many industries like the automotive industry, where the goal is a robot providing ultimate convenience and greatly improved safety. Primary non-NASA commercial application is the automotive industry, specifically in autonomous vehicles. Other commercial applications include: transportation expansion, railways, civil engineering and surveying, and security and surveillance.