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Dynamic Power Generation for Human and Scientific Exploration of the Lunar South Pole

Many NASA missions visit some of the harshest, darkest, coldest locations in the solar system and would not be possible, or would be extremely limited, without the use of nuclear power. Radioisotope Power Systems, or RPS, harness the heat of the natural decay of plutonium-238, to produce continuous electric power for operating spacecraft systems and science instruments. Radioisotope power has provided this “Power to Explore” for the past 60 years.

DRPS↗
NASA NTRS1980

Geophysical parameters of the earth-moon system

Doppler tracking data from Lunar Orbiter 4 have been combined with laser ranging data from lunar retroreflectors to yield a number of geophysical and geodetic parameters for the earth and moon. This joint solution gives values of (1) the lunar principal polar moment C/M R squared = 0.3905 plus or minus 0.0023, (2) GM(E) = 398600.461 plus or minus 0.026 cu km/sq s, and (3) an earth/moon mass ratio at 81.300587 plus or minus 0.000049. Also determined are the harmonics of a complete lunar gravity field through degree and order 5, the obliquity of the lunar pole, selenocentric coordinates of the lunar retroreflectors, geocentric coordinates of the McDonald Observatory, and the lunar secular acceleration. The lunar potential Love number is weakly determined at 0.022 plus or minus 0.013, and a suprisingly large dissipation of rotational energy is inferred, though either solid body tidal dissipation or liquid core mantle interactions could be causes.

Ferrari, A. J.↗