Introduction of Laser Reflector

A Laser Reflector is an optical device that reflects the laser pulses emitted from the ground laser station to the satellite in the opposite direction back to the ground station, thus achieving precise measurement of the satellite's distance, which is more than two orders of magnitude more accurate than radio technology. In order to improve the orbital measurement accuracy of navigation satellites, several international navigation systems built and under construction among Russia's Glonass system, Europe's Galileo system and all the satellites of China's BeiDou navigation system will be installed with laser reflectors. Laser reflectors have been installed on the 35 and 36 satellites of the U.S. GPS system.

Due to the long distances of these navigation satellites, the laser echo signal is weak and not easy to measure. The International Laser Ranging Organization (ILRO), in order to improve the design of the laser reflectors of navigation satellites to improve the measurement results, has organized international joint observations since December 2008 to compare the strength of laser signals returned from the laser reflectors of navigation satellites in orbit.

Laser Reflector

China's BeiDou II M1 satellite was launched in April 2007, and the laser reflector was developed by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with unique design, processing and installation; and domestic materials and technologies were used, and the quartz glass used to make the Quartz Laser Reflector was produced by Shanghai Prismatic Industrial Co. The above comparison results proved that the quality of domestic quartz glass reached the international advanced level. Because of its light weight, small area, strong echo signal and high measurement accuracy, the M1 laser reflector has been confirmed by the International Laser Ranging Organization as the best design at present, and has attracted the attention of NASA, European Space Agency and Russian Space Agency.

It is reported that Shanghai Astronomical Observatory started to develop satellite laser reflectors in 1999. The first one was developed for the Shenzhou 4 orbital module, and two types of products have been formed so far: one type is applicable to low orbit satellites with orbital altitude of 300~1500 km, such as Shenzhou spacecraft, etc.; the other type is applicable to medium and high orbit satellites with orbital altitude of 20,000~36,000 km, such as BeiDou navigation satellites; the lightest laser reflector successfully developed is only 400 grams, and after the launch in 2008, the measurement by China's satellite laser ranging The lightest laser reflector is only 400 grams. These products are especially suitable for various scientific satellites and were exported to South Korea in 2003, where they were well received for their good quality and low price. In addition, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory has developed laser reflectors for other satellites in demand, and precisely analyzed and calculated the effective reflective area of satellites in different sky zones to meet the needs of users.

We also provide Laser Protection Lens, please feel free to contact us if you need.