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    • Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE) L1

    Metadata Updated: April 10, 2026

    LITE_L1 data are LIDAR Vertical profile data along the orbital flight path of STS-64.Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE) used a three-wavelength (355 nm, 532 nm and 1064 nm) backscatter lidar which flew on the space shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-64 mission between September 9 and September 20, 1994. The LITE instrument was designed with the capability to make measurements of clouds, aerosols in the stratosphere and troposphere, the height of the planetary boundary layer, and 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.The LITE data were transmitted real time the by Ku-band system through TDRSS downlink to the LITE operations center at JSC. There was a gap in the high-rate coverage between 60 E and 85 E due to the zone of exclusion, where neither TDRSS satellite was in view. Additional random gaps in the data occurred due to telemetry dropouts during data transmission.The LITE L1 data product was formed by processing and reformatting the LITE high-rate telemetry data. The LITE L1 processing steps included:Correcting the profiles for instrument artifacts. Subtracting the DC offset from each lidar profile. Interpolating lidar profiles to a geolocated, common altitude grid, which extends from -4.985 to 40.0 km with a 15 m vertical resolution. Determining the LITE system calibration constants for the 355 nm and 532 nm wavelength profiles.Merged with the LITE L1 lidar profiles are: Identification Parameters, Time Parameters, Location Parameters, Operation Mode Parameters, Validity Flags, Measurement Location Descriptions, Temperature and Pressure Profiles Derived from NMC Data, Instrument Status Information.The archived files are concatenations of about 1000 (depending on data gaps) sets of headers and profiles. Read software programs written in C or IDL are available.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: See this page for license information.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date March 13, 2026
    Metadata Updated Date April 10, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NASA Data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date March 13, 2026
    Metadata Updated Date April 10, 2026
    Publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
    Maintainer
    Identifier /SDE/CMR_API/|C1536049400-LARC_ASDC
    Data Last Modified 2026-04-06
    Category Earth Science
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 026:00
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id c697ce29-44e9-4e42-8a67-dde545994c1a
    Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
    Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
    License https://www.usa.gov/government-works
    Old Spatial "CARTESIAN",{"Boundary":{"Points":{"Latitude":-60,"Longitude":-180},{"Latitude":-60,"Longitude":180},{"Latitude":60,"Longitude":180},{"Latitude":60,"Longitude":-180},{"Latitude":-60,"Longitude":-180}}}
    Program Code 026:000
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 711e89a2164b4814244c431a77824659c0bb3bcc96a65fb613db0c311955f56a
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial
    Temporal 1994-09-10/1994-09-19

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