Orbiting Configurable Artificial Star Multi-Wavelength Laser Payload

We establish a viable laser payload design for the Orbiting Configurable Artificial Star (ORCAS) mission. We share observational considerations and derive the engineering requirements for the laser payload. Developed by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, the dual-wavelength laser will operate at 1064 nm and can be frequency-doubled to 532 nm, with two possible beam divergence modes and tunable power. The laser payload can be operated at pulse repetition rates greater than 10 kHz to enable compatibility with Adaptive Optics systems and to maintain pointing requirements. We show that such a laser payload can be constructed based upon a high-TRL amplified fiber Laser Communication Terminal modified to meet the mission requirements.