Luna Innovations Supplies Critical Laser Component for NASA's Navigation Doppler LiDAR
08 Abril 2021 - 10:45AM
Business Wire
Luna Innovations (NASDAQ: LUNA), a global leader in advanced
optical technology, today announced that it has successfully
designed, qualified, and built the RIO® narrow-linewidth
semiconductor laser to be used in the United States National
Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Navigation Doppler
LiDAR (light detection and ranging) system. The selection of Luna’s
RIO laser highlights Luna’s unique capabilities in the development
and production of rugged, high quality semiconductor lasers for
emerging applications such as LiDAR.
The Navigation Doppler LiDAR (NDL) is being developed at NASA
Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. LiDAR is a remote
sensing method which helps determine the exact velocity and
position of a spacecraft to assist in landing at the desired
location on planetary surfaces. Using laser beams sent from the
LiDAR system towards the surface, the beams’ detected reflections
are processed to determine what direction the spacecraft is moving,
how far away the surface is, and how fast the vehicle is moving
towards the surface.
“To precisely measure the vehicle speed, direction, and
distance, our NDL system uses both Doppler shift and laser beam
travel time, which requires a highly stable single-frequency laser
source,” said Farzin Amzajerdian, NDL Principal Investigator from
NASA Langley Research Center. “The RIO laser from Luna Innovations
has met NASA’s requirements for high reliability, low noise, and
ultra-narrow linewidth.”
“Luna Innovations is immensely proud to play a role in U.S.
space programs and is excited for RIO’s continued collaborations
with NASA,” according to Scott Graeff, President and CEO of Luna
Innovations. “Ultimately, the goal of the NDL is to safely land the
next man and first woman on the moon in 2024, and we’re proud to
play a part in this historic effort.”
The RIO laser, originally designed for terrestrial applications
such as distributed fiber-optic sensing and measurement, has
undergone a successful series of rigorous qualification tests
validating its suitability for use on spacecraft. In October 2020,
the RIO laser was flown into space on the Blue Origin New Shepard
rocket as part of NASA’s Precision Lunar Landing Technology
demonstration. The NDL sensor will be flown on two Commercial Lunar
Payload Service (CLPS) missions to land robotic vehicles on the
moon later this year and in early 2022.
About Luna
Luna Innovations (NASDAQ: LUNA) is a leader in optical
technology, committed to serving its customers with unique
capabilities in high-performance, fiber-optic-based sensing,
measurement, testing and control products for the aerospace,
transportation, infrastructure, security, process control,
communications, silicon photonics, defense, and automotive
industries, among others. Luna is organized into two business
segments, which work closely together to turn ideas into products:
Lightwave and Luna Labs. Enabling the future with fiber, Luna’s
business model is designed to accelerate the process of bringing
new and innovative technologies to market. www.lunainc.com
About RIO
RIO, now part of Luna Innovations, is headquartered in Santa
Clara, California, and develops and manufactures optical sources
and subsystems based on its proprietary planar external cavity
laser technology (PLANEX™), which delivers unique price-performance
advantages in energy, security, infrastructure, metrology, and
other markets. RIO’s product lines include 1550nm single frequency
narrow linewidth lasers and modules with very low noise,
unparalleled wavelength stability, low cost, small size, low power
dissipation, and telecom grade lifetime reliability. www.
rio-lasers.com
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Media Contact: Jane Bailey
Phone: 540-525-0364 Email: baileyj@lunainc.com
Investor Contact: Allison
Woody Phone: 540-769-8465 Email: woodya@lunainc.com
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