Fiber optic sensors for space missions

Fiber optic sensors offer several advantages over conventional ones such as the immunity from electromagnetic interferences and the possibility of multiplexing many of them along the same fiber. Such sensors can be used to monitor local deformations on or inside the structures. In the paper will be mentioned techniques that can be used for embedding those sensors into several types of materials and possible applications in the field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). However the main objective is to show applications is in the field of scientific space experiments where precise position monitoring of particle detectors or of optical instrument can be crucial for the success of the mission. A real time position monitoring system based on fiber optic sensors is presented. The experimental results are compared with a conventional optical technique.