NASA CASALS Lidar Maps Earth at 22-Centimeter Resolution

NASA Goddard researchers developed the Concurrent Artificially-intelligent Spectrometry Lidar System (CASALS), an airborne lidar prototype designed to map Earth’s surface. A prototype flew aboard a NASA B200 King Air in November 2024 and produced science-quality datasets during its first campaign.

CASALS achieved 22-centimeter horizontal resolution from an altitude of about five kilometers.

What has been confirmed

NASA reports that CASALS uses a tunable laser cycling through 256 wavelengths and an optical transmission grating to direct pulses across a swath without mechanically steering mirrors. Its detector array has 80% quantum efficiency. NASA reports 22-centimeter horizontal resolution from approximately five kilometers altitude. The prototype has demonstrated airborne performance; NASA has not described it as space-ready.

Why it matters

CASALS’ airborne results give researchers a way to assess a lidar design intended to collect continuous swaths of surface data. If further development succeeds, NASA says the system could become the first spaceborne lidar to map forests and terrain in continuous 3D swaths rather than isolated profiles. That remains a future possibility, not a capability already demonstrated in space.

FlyMarshall context

Airborne research flights let teams evaluate instruments using aircraft before considering their use in space. NASA’s B200 King Air provided the flight platform for CASALS’ November 2024 campaign, where the team gathered data at roughly five kilometers altitude. The mission’s lidar sends laser pulses toward the ground and measures returning signals to build surface information.

What happens next

The team plans another CASALS flight during the ASCENT campaign, scheduled for summer 2027. NASA also identifies a wider swath and onboard data-processing software as development goals. The team must continue development and prepare a space-ready prototype before spaceflight use.