NASA LITE

The objective of the NASA LITE program was to demonstrate the measurement capabilities of a lidar system in orbit aboard the space shuttle. The experiment was designed to test the feasibility of space-based lidar systems. To validate the LITE measurements, extensive correlative measurements were made from coincident ground- and aircraft-based sensors. As part of this "air truth" measurement program, SSSF Omega dropsondes were periodically deployed from the NASA P3-B aircraft as it flew underneath the shuttle flight track during selected nighttime orbits over the North and South Atlantic Oceans. The dropsonde profiles will provide valuable in-situ atmospheric data to assist in the analysis of the measurements from both the aircraft and spacecraft lidars.