Small Spacecraft Community of Practice
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Liquid Lenses for Free Space Optical Communications
Speaker: Shreeyam Kacker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Space Telecommunications Astronomy and Radiation (STAR) Lab
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
10:00AM-11:00AM Pacific Daylight Time
Click here to watch the webinar.
Click here to download the presentation.
Abstract: Liquid lenses are lenses filled with fluid which allows them to curve and adjust their focal length, typically through electrowetting. Liquid lenses have found use in many scientific and industrial applications, ranging from 3D imaging of biological samples to miniauturized phone cameras and product inspection. The technology shows great promise for space applications and nonmechanical beam steering with low SWaP-C, however they have not yet been qualified.
The Miniature Optical Steered Antenna for Intersatellite Communications (MOSAIC) project, a collaboration between MIT and NASA GRC, uses commercial liquid lens assemblies to demonstrate the capabilities of liquid lenses for free space optical communications. We describe environmental testing and optical characterization of two commercial liquid lenses and the development of optical terminals that are still compact and efficient, but also capable of hemispherical steering.
Bio: Shreeyam Kacker is a computer vision engineer at Planet Labs PBC. He graduated from the MIT Space Telecommunications, Astronomy and Radiation Laboratory with a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2022. His research specializes in laser communications, optics, and deep learning applied to remote sensing and autonomous navigation.
S3VI encourages the community to submit questions before the webinar to enable more directed responses. Please send questions to raquel.l.redhouse@nasa.gov.
