Prospects for Laser Sensing of Gas Leaks from Spacecrafts

Prospects for the application of orbital lidars for the detection of gas leaks from spacecrafts are investigated. The optical characteristics of the main light-scattering components – molecules and atoms of gases, are estimated at altitudes of 100–600 km from the Earth surface. It is shown that an orbital lidar with modern technical parameters can reliably detect signals from dispersed gas leak components at distances from several tens to one hundred meters from the spacecraft.