Abstract

Knowledge of winds is required to reduce aerodynamic loads on the Space Shuttle during launch. Knowledge of winds is also required to safely land the unpowered orbiter. Balloons are currently used in both instances to produce the necessary wind profiles. The balloons require an hour to rise through the altitude range, sometimes drifting far from the area where the wind measurement is desired. As a result, the correlation between the actual winds encountered by the vehicle and those measured is reduced. NASA is investigating the potential of alternate wind sensors to produce more local wind measurement in less time to increase this correlation. Lidar is one technique under investigation.

© 1991 Optical Society of America