In the artist's impression depicted below, a lander-mounted miniature Doppler lidar remotely probes a Martian dust devil. This is one measurement scenario anticipated for an advanced technology instrument currently being prototyped at JPL.

Present knowledge of Martian climatology is limited by the minimal meteorological data provided near the surface by the Viking and Mars Pathfinder landers. The in situ lidar device being developed under this task will provide a unique dataset which will contribute greatly to understanding the dynamics of the Martian atmosphere.

This task will produce a compact, low-power Doppler lidar suitable for wind and opacity profiling of the Mars lower atmosphere from a lander. It is anticipated that the instrument will measure line-of-sight wind velocities to 1 m/s precision over ranges of 3-10 km, depending on the prevailing dust loading (i.e., atmospheric opacity).

Development of the narrow-linewidth semiconductor laser transmitter is in collaboration with the Photonics Technology Group of the JPL Microdevices Laboratory (MDL). To achieve the desired velocity resolution the transmitter linewidth must not exceed 2MHz. The MDL Photonics Technology Group is presently developing corrugation pitch modulated (CPM) grating-controlled devices in order to meet this goal. An output power of 200 mW is the design target.

The lidar package is being designed with maximum fiber connectivity. The receiver employs a unique high-speed, low noise photomixer/amplifier combination with a custom designed 12-bit ADC and processing electronics.