Fibertek, Inc. manufactured the laser transmitters for the NASA/Ball Aerospace CALIPSO space-based lidar program. The CALIPSO mission is designed to measure global atmospheric aerosols from a space-based platform. Fibertek has delivered a prototype space-qualified laser and two mission units jointly funded by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (BATC) and NASA Langley Research Center. The prototype laser was tested extensively to validate the design lifetime of >3 x 10⁹ shots.
      Qualification of the flight units began at the subassembly level, continued with engineering unit versions of the key modules, and then concluded with formal qualification of the two flight units.  Particular attention was given to validation of the vacuum seal design since it was required to maintain pressure for the planned three-year mission.  Fibertek delivered two laser systems in 2003 and the flight lasers were integrated onto mission payload in 2005.
      The CALIPSO mission was launched on April 28, 2006.  The health of the electronics and internal pressure was verified for both lasers two weeks later.  Laser Transmitter #2 was first operated at full power on May 23, 2006.  After a number of startup procedures, the full lidar system began operation on June 6, 2006 and has been in near continuous operation since.  As of September 2008 the lidar system was operating well with nearly 1.5 billion shots logged.  The laser transmitter output has remained stable to within 5% of initial performance both in the infrared and visible output channels.