NextGen Federal Systems (NextGen), in partnership with Michigan Technological University (MTU) and KBR Inc., seeks to develop and demonstrate key laser components that will help make sodium beacon adaptive optics practical for military, ground-to-space, imaging applications. The goal is to deliver an affordable, lidar measurement capability that will increase understanding of the mesospheric sodium layer and, consequently, improve the performance of AFRLÂ’s sodium beacon laser. Our STTR Phase I will design and validate our proposed solution, culminating in a report that thoroughly describes concepts, analyses, and design for the Mesosphere Observation Mission for Beacon Optimization (MOMBO) lidar system. Our report will detail MOMBO components at a level suitable for a conceptual design review and our analyses and simulations will show that the proposed components are effective and affordable. The report shall include a plan for building and demonstrating MOMBO on-sky, in conditions that are representative of typical sites for ground-based observations of earth-orbiting satellites.
