Description: Environmental species measurement on airborne atmospheric research craft is a demanding application for optical sensing techniques. Yet optical techniques offer many advantages including high-precision, fast response, and high species selectivity. Balloonsonde, kite, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or glider deployment demands that sensors meet stringent size, weight and power requirements. Few measurements are as important, and none have entered into the public consciousness, like the need to quantify atmospheric carbon dioxide. Vista Photonics proposes to develop rugged, compact, power efficient prototype optical sensors capable of selectively measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide and water vapor with precision that rivals ground based instruments. The enabling technology for meeting stringent NASA mission requirements is a newly emergent infrared laser source that delivers the high-sensitivity of established optical absorption detection techniques with extreme compactness and low power draw.

Benefits: The immediate targeted application for NASA is trace atmospheric species monitoring on unmanned terrestrial atmospheric research craft. Phase II prototypes will be capable of selectively detecting carbon dioxide. The integrated sensors will be suitable for dynamic airborne environments on Earth and in planetary measurements as diverse as the Moon, Mars and Titan. Other applications include fire detection on aircraft and high-value installations, gas sensing in air revitalization and water recovery processes on spacecraft, and leak detection during spacecraft launch operations.

Phase III commercial applications abound for sensors whose performance and physical characteristics are suitable for unmanned airborne measurements. A prominent example includes leak monitoring at carbon capture and sequestration sites where greenhouse gases are stored underground. Other examples include contaminant monitoring in process gas streams in the chemical and microelectronics industries, medical diagnosis through detection of biogenic gases in human breath that correlate to specific pathologies, and environmental monitoring and regulatory compliance in agriculture, power production, and occupational safety. The fully-developed Phase II instruments shall offer a compelling and desirable blend of performance, affordability, compactness, simplicity and ease-of-use relative to present commercial product offerings in these applications.