That was demonstrated in the most recent Mars rover mission...
The LIDAR-on-a-chip is in development- somewhat demonstrated in the lab (The big profit motivation would be for self-driving cars) I was interested in having it perfected for the lava-tube application. The technology will be there quite soon, I have no doubt whatsoever. While such a LIDAR would have countless applications for various space missions, there is a huge profit motive to make such a device for terrestrial applications- so I suspect corporations are investing far more in it than NASA could.
I think that integrated photonics will be every bit as revolutionary as integrated electronics has been... devices we can't even imagine will become consumer items. I don't work on the nuts-and-bolts of the technology, but I follow it very closely as part of my job. It will revolutionize the field I work in.
Space/Science » in reply to That would be a huge advance in LIDAR technology
The drone would be in Mars atmosphere
The whole thread (16 posts)
- NASA's LRO finds Lunar pits harbor comfortable 63 F (17 C) temperatures
