Safety Design for Space Operations

Chapter 11

Safety of Ground-based Space Laser Application

Karl U. Schreiber

Chapter Outline

11.1 Introduction

11.2 History of Satellite Laser Ranging

11.3 Concept of SLR Technology

11.4 International Laser Ranging Service and Mission Safety

11.5 In-Sky Laser Safety

11.6 Laser Safety in Space

11.7 Summary

11.1 Introduction

Shortly after the predictions of quantum mechanics for an optical maser had been demonstrated experimentally and with the advent of ruby pulse lasers capable of generating short laser pulses with a width of about 5 ns, the concept of laser ranging quickly became a widely used technology. Since time represents the SI unit that can be measured with the highest resolution, it was convenient to measure distance as the time of ...