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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS2012

Lunar Topography: Results from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been operating nearly continuously since July 2009, accumulating over 6 billion measurements from more than 2 billion in-orbit laser shots. LRO's near-polar orbit results in very high data density in the immediate vicinity of the lunar poles, with full coverage at the equator from more than 12000 orbital tracks averaging less than 1 km in spacing at the equator. LRO has obtained a global geodetic model of the lunar topography with 50-meter horizontal and 1-m radial accuracy in a lunar center-of-mass coordinate system, with profiles of topography at 20-m horizontal resolution, and 0.1-m vertical precision. LOLA also provides measurements of reflectivity and surface roughness down to its 5-m laser spot size. With these data LOLA has measured the shape of all lunar craters 20 km and larger. In the proposed extended mission commencing late in 2012, LOLA will concentrate observations in the Southern Hemisphere, improving the density of the polar coverage to nearly 10-m pixel resolution and accuracy to better than 20 m total position error. Uses for these data include mission planning and targeting, illumination studies, geodetic control of images, as well as lunar geology and geophysics. Further improvements in geodetic accuracy are anticipated from the use of re ned gravity fields after the successful completion of the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission in 2012.

Neumann, Gregory↗
NASA NTRS1977

A harmonic analysis of lunar topography

A global lunar topographic map has been derived from existing earth-based and orbital observations supplemented in areas without data by a linear autocovariance predictor. Of 2592 bins, each 5 deg square, 1380 (64.7% by area) contain at least one measurement. A spherical harmonic analysis to degree 12 yields a mean radius of 1737.53 plus or minus 0.03 km (formal standard error) and an offset of the center of figure of 1.98 plus or minus 0.06 km toward (19 plus or minus 2) deg S, (194 plus or minus 1) deg E. A Bouguer gravity map, derived from a 12-degree free-air gravity model and the present topography data, is presented for an elevation of 100 km above the mean surface. It is confirmed that the low-degree gravity harmonics are determined primarily by surface height variations and only secondarily by lateral density variations.

Bills, B. G.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Lunar topography - First radar-interferometer measurements of the Alphonsus-Ptolemaeus-Arzachel region.

Radar interferometry is a new technique for accurately measuring the topography of the lunar surface from the earth. Measurements have been made with this technique of an area including the craters Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, and Arzachel and a portion of Mare Nubium. There is evidence for a late episode of volcanism that partially filled two of the craters through a crustal fault of Imbrian origin. Several other features of the topography, particularly those coinciding with local gravitational anomalies, can be correlated with flow events.

Zisk, S. H.↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Lunar Prospector Mission: Final Results of Trajectory Design, Quasi-Frozen Orbits, Extended Mission Targeting, and Lunar Topography and Potential Models

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected Lunar Prospector (LP) as one of the discovery missions to conduct solar system exploration science investigations. The mission was NASA's first lunar voyage to investigate key science objectives since Apollo and was launched in January 1998. In keeping with discovery program requirements to reduce total mission cost and utilize new technology, Lunar Prospector's mission design and control will focus on the use of innovative and proven trajectory analysis programs. As part of this effort, the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Ames Research Center became partners in the Lunar Prospector trajectory team to provide the trajectory analysis and orbit determination support. At the end of 1998, Lunar Prospector completed its one-year primary mission at 100-km altitude above the lunar surface. On December 19, 1998, Lunar Prospector entered its extended mission phase. The mission orbit was lowered from 100 km to a mean altitude of 40 km. Due to lunar potential effects, the altitude of Lunar Prospector varied from 25 to 55 km above the mean lunar geoid. After one month at 40 km, the lunar potential model was updated based upon the new tracking data at 40 km. On January 15, 1999, the altitude was lowered again to a mean altitude of 30 km. The spherical altitude varied between 15 km and 45 km above the mean lunar geoid while the topographical altitude varied between 10 km and 50 km. Various means were employed to get accurate lunar surface elevation including Clementine altimetry and LOS analysis. Based upon the best available terrain maps, Lunar Prospector reached actual altitudes of 8 km above lunar mountains in the southern polar region. This extended mission phase of six months will enable LP to obtain science data up to 3 orders of magnitude better than at the mission orbit. At the end of the operations mission, LP was targeted for impact at a chosen location that allowed optical observation of the lunar ejecta as LP ended its mission at 1.6 km/sec. This paper details the trajectory design and orbit determination planning and actual results of the Lunar Prospector nominal and extended mission including maneuver design, eccentricity vs. argument of perigee evolution, topographical altitude estimation, and lunar potential modeling. This paper provides understanding of the quasi-frozen orbit design of the LP mission, the optimization process of lunar orbit targets, the impacts that the selected lunar potential models play, and discusses the feasibility of meeting the mission goals. Observed evolution of the Keplerian orbit elements are compared to the theoretical predictions using the latest lunar potential model available which incorporates the Lunar Prospector Doppler data. Mapping orbit maintenance maneuver design along with results of the actual maneuvers to maintain the orbital requirements are also presented.

Folta, David↗
NASA NTRS1976

Local lunar topography from the Apollo 17 ALSE radar imagery and altimetry

The Apollo 17 ALSE (Apollo Lunar Sounder Experiment) VHF radar provided imagery and continuous profiling data around the moon during two revolutions. The imagery data are used to derive depth and diameter measurements of small craters (diameters less than 30 km). The profiling data are used to study the topography of a few large craters: the bulged floors in Hevelius, Neper, and Aitken; central peaks in Neper and Buisson; and the depressed floor of Maraldi. The same data provided accurate (better than 25 m) profiles of Mare Crisium and Mare Serenitatis.

Elachi, C.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Lunar topography from Apollo 15 and 16 laser altimetry

In the orbital plane of Apollo 15 the mean lunar radius is 1737.3 km, the mean altitude of terrae above maria is about 3 km, and the center-of-figure is displaced from the center-of-mass by about 2 km away from longitude 25 E. The Apollo 16 laser altimeter obtained a total of about 7.5 revolutions of partially overlapping data. The principal difference in results from Apollo 16 is the absence of any great far-side basin similar to the 1400-km wide feature found by Apollo 15, 1200 km to the south. This absence of a far-side depression in the Apollo 16 orbital plane largely accounts for a greater mean radius: 1738.1 km; a greater mean altitude of terrae above maria: about 4 km; and a greater offset of centers: about 3 km, also away from 25 E. In the Apollo 16, as well as Apollo 15, data the far-side terrae are much 'rougher' than the near-side terrae. Mare surfaces are generally smooth to within plus or minus 150 m, and have slopes of 1:500 to 1:2000 persisting over distances as great as 500 km.

Kaula, W. M.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Lunar topography and the limb compression source regions

Data from the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 laser altimeters have been used to study slopes, elevations, and roughness in the identifiable regions on the moon which sporadically produce plasma compressions and magnetic-field enhancements in the solar wind/lunar void boundary when those regions are at a flow limb. It is found that occurrence rates for such 'limb compressions' derived from Explorer 35 satellite measurements are significantly correlated with peak, average, and RMS slopes in the source regions, whereas rates derived from Apollo 15 and 16 subsatellite data are not correlated with topography. This suggests that two or more mechanisms operate in the source regions to produce limb compressions. Together with the known correlation between limb compressions and local surface remanent magnetic fields, the results indicate that lunar magnetization is not strongly related to surface features.

Srnka, L. J.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Lunar topography - Global determination by radar.

Previous methods used for two-dimensional radar mapping of the moon are contrasted with new techniques that add altitude information to the radar map. Delay-Doppler stereoscopy and delay-Doppler interferometry are shown to provide surface-height variations with higher accuracy and better global fidelity than has been possible previously. Sample results are presented for altitude contours on the moon as obtained with the Haystack and Westford radar systems of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An appendix describes the mathematical principles of delay-Doppler interferometry in determining the position of an arbitrary reflecting region of the lunar surface from measurements of the time delay, Doppler shift, and fringe phase of radar echoes from that region.

Shapiro, I. I.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Earth-based measurement of lunar topography using delayed radar interferometry

Radar interferometry has been applied to radar mapping of the surface of Venus to resolve the ambiguity in the backscatter from the areas with the same delay-Doppler coordinates. For observations of the Moon these points are usually isolated by the small extent of the area illuminated by the radar beam so that interferometric techniques can be used to determine a third dimension to the location of the radar backscatter. Recent observations of Sinus Iridum (41.5 deg N, 31.0 deg W) using the Arecibo Observatory S-Band radar system (12.6 cm wavelength) in Apr. and Aug. 1992 have yielded a pair of images viewed with a very small 0.0420 deg difference in incidence angle. These images can be used as a delay interferometric pair and have been correlated to generate phase fringes that are related to topography. The spatial resolution of the images are 18 m in delay and 33 m in cross range (Doppler). The anticipated topographic resolution once the phase fringes have been unwrapped is approximately +/- 10 m.

Stacy, N. J. S.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Lunar Topography and Basins Mapped Using a Clementine Stereo Digital Elevation Model

Planet-wide (1 km/pixel and 5 km/pixel) Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of the Moon have been produced using Clementine UVVIS (Ultraviolet-Visible) stereo. Six new basins have been discovered, two suspected basins have been confirmed, and the dimensions of existing basins better defined. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Cook, A. C.↗