Coherent Doppler Wind Lidar Suborbital and Orbital Activities at NASA Langley

^(a) NASA Langley Research Center 22 W. Taylor St, Hampton, VA 23681
^(b) Beyond Photonics 6205 Lookout Rd, Ste B, Boulder, CO 80301
^(c) Analytical Mechanical Associates 21 Enterprise Pkwy, Ste 300, Hampton, VA 23666
^(d) Simpson Weather Associates 400 Locust Avenue, Charlottesville, VA 22902 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 9 April 2026

Abstract

NASA's Langley Research Center recently completed development of the Aerosol Wind Profiler (AWP) suborbital coherent Doppler wind lidar (CDWL) instrument. Developed with support from NASA's Earth Science Technology Office, Earth Science Division, and LaRC Science Directorate, the AWP project adapted the Wind-SP 2 µm transceiver for airborne use. AWP successfully completed demonstration and engineering test flights in January 2023. LaRC has been funded by a NOAA Joint Venture program Suborbital 3-D Wind Measurement Demonstration project to collect and provide AWP data. The first campaign collected > 50 hours of data during the October 2023 EcoDemonstrator campaign on the NASA DC-8, samples of which will be presented here. AWP implemented and demonstrated multiple technologies needed for a space CDWL transceiver, which have continued development towards miniaturization and ruggedization. A space-based CDWL study is being completed that leverages these recent developments, informing a vision for a relatively low-cost orbital CDWL mission that will also be introduced.