NASA’s CASALS lidar aims to map terrain in continuous 3D swaths
NASA Goddard researchers developed CASALS, a lidar instrument that uses laser wavelengths to scan a continuous ground swath without moving mirrors. An airborne prototype produced science-quality data in 2024 at 22-centimeter horizontal resolution.
Event / data period: 2026-10-21
Published: · Updated:
NASA plans another airborne flight in a 2027 campaign after widening the instrument’s swath and adding onboard processing. CASALS is not yet space-ready; NASA describes a future spaceborne version as a possibility, not a scheduled mission.
Data
NASA update on CASALS
The laser instrument could produce continuous topographic swaths; no space-ready version exists yet.
- · Occurred
NASA publishes an update on the CASALS instrument
NASA details the airborne prototype and next steps; a space version remains in development.
Methodology
Summary of NASA’s technical article published on this date; reported specifications come from the agency.
Updated:
Subjects and places
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