Determining Amplitude Corrections for the Assessment of Surface Roughness Within A Lidar Footprint

The research presented in this thesis is under the context of the OSIRIS-REx mission, a NASA led asteroid sample return mission being launched in 2016 towards the asteroid 101955 Bennu. Aboard the spacecraft is the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA), which is using the backscattered intensity for instrument calibration. By applying the novel solution of amplitude correction, it is possible to gain additional functionality out of this instrument. This thesis presents a simulation written by the author that accurately models laser altimeter performance. The simulation is used successfully to study OLA’s receiver to reduce error in the range measurements and to remove the effects of large-scale topographic features on the amplitude. The remaining amplitude variations will be interpreted as mineralogical or morphological variations that may impact the viability or the desirability of the site for sample collection.