Earlier this week I had the pleasure of hearing astronaut Kevin Ford speak at Neptec, an Ottawa firm that mainly deals with sensors for aerospace applications.
They just tested out an advanced laser detection and ranging system called TriDAR on both STS-128 and STS-131, a topic I covered in more detail yesterday for 365 Days of Astronomy. Check out the podcast here.
Afterwards, I snagged a couple of minutes with Neptec chief executive Iain Christie to talk to him about where they plan to take TriDAR next. He said the great thing about the technology is it is flexible enough to go in several different directions, especially important given the uncertainty of Canada’s long-term space plan.
There is a real burgeoning need for rendezvous and docking systems in things like satellite servicing systems, and also even the space exploration agenda. Although there’s a lot of uncertainty about that, no matter what plan you take, all of them are going to require some amount of rendezvous and docking — whether it be with the space station, or an asteroid, or the moon. So the specific technology that was tested on STS-128 has a market in space.
He pointed out there are several defence and industrial applications for TriDAR. For example, based on the technology Neptec has created a sensor called OPAL (Obscurant Penetrating Autosynchronous LIDAR). It allows helicopters to see below them even in dusty conditions. They also are looking at getting sensors to inspect individual parts on airplanes, which is important to find out if an assembly line is manufacturing parts correctly or if the dimensions on a particular part are off.
But he also mentioned satellite servicing as important, a statement that caught my eye after the comments from MDA chief executive Daniel Friedmann this weekend. In a Canadian newspaper, he said MDA is looking to build a satellite refuelling station. So I asked Christie if he had heard anything about this.
We have had discussions; it’s a very small community, so all of the people who are interested in that kind of application know one another. (MDA) certainly have the leadership on the robotics side, so they would be a natural for us to partner with … Satellite servicing requires people who can do the robotics, the guidance. It also requires people who can launch it and above everything, it requires an actual customer who has things that need to be serviced.
Christie added that space remains ”very much the centerpiece of what we do”, but said he’s most proud of the spinoffs for earthly applications — such as what TriDAR is demonstrating right now.
Today’s question: What do you think are some potential earthly applications for laser systems in space?
