NASA's CASALS lidar maps Earth's surface in continuous 3D

Researchers at NASA Goddard have built CASALS, a lidar that steers light by wavelength instead of moving mirrors, producing a continuous 3D swath of the ground with no gaps between scan lines. The instrument, backed by NASA's Earth Science Technology Office, is meant for detailed mapping of Earth's surface.

• CASALS steers the beam via wavelength rather than moving mirrors
• It removes blind spots between lidar scan lines
• The work was supported by NASA's ESTO