Impact of atmospheric turbulence on the signal intensity of the laser ranging echo of space debris

Based on the research of laser atmospheric transmission theory, this paper derives the laser radar ranging equation under the influence of turbulence under the condition of slant path transmission, and simulates and analyzes the changes in the number of debris laser ranging (DLR) echo photons under different parameters. The results show that the number of echo photons is inversely proportional to the intensity of atmospheric turbulence and proportional to the relative angular spread. The greater the elevation angle, the more echo photons; among them, under strong, weak atmospheric turbulence, and no turbulence conditions, the ratio of the number of echo photons is approximately between 1/500 and 4/5. The success rate of the DLR system detecting effective echo signals under different turbulence intensities is comparatively analyzed. Finally, based on the comparison of the experimental results of the 700 mm DLR system and the simulation results of the corrected model, the average relative error is found to be 13.43%.