Pro-Lite's laser partner Modulight has supplied fibre pigtailed laser diodes to the European Space Agency for the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite mission to be launched on 2 November 2009.
The lasers, designed and manufactured in Finland, are said to be an essential part of the optical harness of the Miras (Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis) instrument in the satellite.
Through the use of Miras, the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) will provide global information on surface soil moisture every three days within an accuracy of four per cent at a spatial resolution of 50km - comparable to being able to detect one teaspoonful of water mixed into a handful of soil.
In parallel, SMOS will also observe ocean salinity down to 0.1psu (practical salinity unit) for a 30-day average over an area of 200 x 200km, which is about the same as detecting 0.1g of salt in a litre of water.
The Miras Optical Harness was designed and manufactured by former Contraves Space (currently RUAG Space).
Modulight supplied more than 70 lasers to this instrument that controls the synchronisation of the distributed microwave antenna elements of the satellite and thereby the whole remote sensing functionality.
The data from SMOS will result in a better understanding of the water cycle and, in particular, the exchange processes between Earth's surfaces and the atmosphere.
This data will help to improve weather and climate models, and also have practical applications in areas such as agriculture and water resource management.
