The Lidar In-space Technology Experiment (LITE) was initiated in 1985 to demonstrate the operation of a lidar in space. It was decided that the most convincing demonstration would be within the context of actual atmospheric investigations, and toward this end, a LITE Science Steering Group was formed in 1988 to develop instrument performance requirements, guide the development of the LITE experiment plan, and utilize the scientific data provided by the instrument. LITE was flown on the Space Shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-64 mission between September 9 and September 20, 1994.

Technical Specifications

LITE used a laser, a telescope approximately 1 meter in diameter and a modular design. The system was used to study clouds, tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols, characteristics of the planetary boundary layer, stratospheric density and temperature perturbations, and to some degree, surface topography.

Scientific Objectives

The LITE instrument was designed to measure:

• Clouds and aerosols in the stratosphere and troposphere
• The height of the planetary boundary layer (PBL)
• Atmospheric temperature and density in the stratosphere between 25 km and 40 km altitude
• Additionally, limited measurements of the surface return strength over both land and ocean were collected to explore retrievals of surface properties.