Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

On 9 October 2009, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) sent a kinetic impactor to strike Cabeus crater, on a mission to search for water ice and other volatiles expected to be trapped in lunar polar soils. The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) ultraviolet spectrograph onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) observed the plume generated by the LCROSS impact as far-ultraviolet emissions from the fluorescence of sunlight by molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide, plus resonantly scattered sunlight from atomic mercury, with contributions from calcium and magnesium. The observed light curve is well simulated by the expansion of a vapor cloud at a temperature of ~1000 kelvin, containing ~570 kilograms (kg) of carbon monoxide, ~140 kg of molecular hydrogen, ~160 kg of calcium, ~120 kg of mercury, and ~40 kg of magnesium.

Launched June 18, 2009, with its primary mission scheduled to end September 2010, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will be the first observatory ever to spend an entire year orbiting and observing the Moon at a low altitude of just 50 km. The spacecraft carries a wide variety of scientific instruments and will provide an extraordinary opportunity to study the lunar landscape at resolutions and over time scales never achieved before. This paper is intended as a companion to the series of papers released simultaneously in this journal detailing LRO's instruments and their planned measurements. The paper describes the design and key performance drivers of the LRO spacecraft and overall mission design. It presents a comprehensive description of the operation of the various systems that comprise the spacecraft and illustrates how these systems enable achievement of the mission requirements.

NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP), formulated in response to the President's Vision for Space Exploration, will execute a series of robotic missions that will pave the way for eventual permanent human presence on the Moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is first in this series of LPRP missions, and plans to launch in October of 2008 for at least one year of operation. LRO will employ six individual instruments to

"This paper examines the evidence of water on the Moon, starting with the Apollo missions and leading through to January of 2012 with the LRO’s latest findings.

This essay details the lunar missions that made the most significant contributions to the existence of water on the Moon.

"The Controversy over the Presence of Water on the Moon," has passed the peer review process with the Institute of Science and Technology's Journal and will be published in October's 2012 edition of the journal."

LRO observations supporting the LCROSS mission for target selection, pre-impact, and post-impact will be highlighted. LRO observations helped identify potential LCROSS impactor targets during the commissioning and early baseline mission operations and were essential in determining the final LCROSS target for the October 9, 2009 impact near the lunar South Pole. LRO plans to characterize the LCROSS impact site in

With the cancellation of the Apollo program after Apollo 17 returned from the Moon in 1972, the focus of NASA switched to other areas of the Solar System. Study of the Moon did continue through analysis of the returned samples and remotely sensed data sets (both orbital and surface), as well as through Earth-based telescopic studies. In the 1990s, new orbital data were obtained from several missions (fly-by and orbital), the first being Galileo that allowed the lunar farside to be mapped, followed by global mapping by the Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions. Interest in the Moon started to increase at the beginning of the 21st century as other nations focused their space exploration programs on the Moon. The speech by President Bush in January 2004 put the Moon back into the critical exploration path for NASA, paving the way for humans to return to the lunar surface by 2020. This return will be critical for developing technologies and protocols for the eventual human exploration of other parts of the solar system. At the time of writing (June 2008), the SELENE/Kaguya mission (Japan and Chang'e-1 (China) are orbiting the Moon, with Chandrayaan-1 (India) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (USA) being scheduled to launch later in 2008. The past (and present) exploration of the Moon begs the question ''what's left to be done?'' With the renewed focus on the Moon, now that it is on the pathway for the exploration of Mars (and beyond) a similar question has been raised-what should the astronauts do on the Moon? The publication of the New Views of the Moon book [Jolliff et al., 2006. New Views of the Moon, Reviews in Mineralogy, vol. 60. American Mineralogical Society, 721pp] highlighted a number of important scientific questions that remain unanswered as well as posing many more on the basis of the currently available data. These questions resonated in three Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) reports pertinent to this discussion, which were also published (on line) during 2006 (http://www.lpi.usra.edu/leag), and in the National Research Council of the National Academies [2007. The Scientific Context for Exploration of the Moon. National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 112pp] report entitled ''The Scientific Context for Exploration of the Moon''. This paper synthesizes these recent studies, along with those from the 1980s and 1990s, to emphasize the lunar science questions that remain unanswered. In addition, it summarizes the missions already flown to the Moon along with those that are planned in order to give the reader an idea of exactly what lunar science has been and will be conducted in the hope that it will inspire proposals for missions to address the outstanding science questions.

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Probing of Hermean exosphere by ultraviolet spectroscopy (PHEBUS) is a double spectrometer for the Extreme Ultraviolet range (55-155 nm) and the Far Ultraviolet range (145-315 nm) devoted to the characterization of Mercury's exosphere composition and dynamics, and surface-exosphere connections. This French-led instrument is implemented in a cooperative scheme involving Japan (detectors), Russia (scanner) and Italy (ground calibration). PHEBUS will address the following main scientific objectives relative to Mercury's exosphere: determination of the composition and the vertical structure of the exosphere; characterization of the exospheric dynamics: day to night circulation, transport between active and inactive regions; study of surface release processes; identification and characterization of the sources of exospheric constituents; detection and characterization of ionized species and their relation with the neutral atmosphere; space and time monitoring of exosphere/magnetosphere exchange and transport processes; study and quantification of escape, global scale source/sink balance and geochemical cycles synergistically with other experiments of BepiColombo (Mercury Sodium Atmospheric Spectral Imager (MSASI), Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) on Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO); Mercury imaging X-ray spectrometer (MIXS), Search for exosphere refilling and emitted neutral abundance (SERENA) on Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO)). Two gratings and two detectors are used according to a specific, compact design. The spectrum detection is based on the photon counting method and is realized using micro-channel plate (MCP) detectors with Resistive Anode Encoder (RAE). Typical photocathodes are CsI or KBr for the extreme ultra-violet (EUV) range, CsTe for the far ultra-violet (FUV) range. Extra visible lines are monitored using a photo-multiplier (PM) that is also used in photon counting mode. In order to prevent sensitivity losses which are critical in UV ranges, a minimum of reflections is achieved inside the instrument using only an off-axis parabola and a set of holographic gratings. A one degree-of-freedom scanning system allows to probe, at the highest possible signal-tonoise ratio, selected regions and altitude ranges of interest. Different modes of observation will be used sequentially (vertical scans, alongorbit scans, grazing observations at twilight, etc.). During the mission, the instrument will be regularly calibrated on well chosen stars, in such a way to quantitatively estimate the overall degradation of the sensitivity of the instrument. r

We present the results on precision orbit determination from the radio science investigation of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. We describe the data, modeling and methods used to achieve position knowledge several times better than the required 50-100 m (in total position), over the period from 13 July 2009 to 31 January 2011. In addition to the near-continuous radiometric tracking data, we include altimetric data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) in the form of crossover measurements, and show that they strongly improve the accuracy of the orbit reconstruction (total position overlap differences decrease from ∼70 m to ∼23 m). To refine the spacecraft trajectory further, we develop a lunar gravity field by combining the newly acquired LRO data with the historical data. The reprocessing of the spacecraft trajectory with that model shows significantly increased accuracy (∼20 m with only the radiometric data, and ∼14 m with the addition of the altimetric crossovers). LOLA topographic maps and calibration data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera were used to supplement the results of the overlap analysis and demonstrate the trajectory accuracy.

1] A theoretical model for radar scattering from the lunar regolith using the vector radiative transfer theory for random media has been developed in order to aid in the interpretation of Mini-SAR data from the Chandrayaan-1 and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions. The lunar regolith is represented as a homogeneous fine-grained layer with rough upper and lower parallel interfaces that possesses embedded inclusions with a different dielectric constant. Our model considers five scattering mechanisms in the regolith layer: diffuse scattering from both the surface and subsurface, volume scattering from buried inclusions, and the interactions of scattering between buried inclusions and the rough interfaces (both the lunar surface and subsurface). Multiple scattering between buried inclusions and coherent backscatter opposite effect are not considered in the current model. The modeled radar scattering coefficients are validated using numerical finite difference time domain simulations and are compared with incident angle-averaged Earth-based radar observations of the Moon. Both polarized and depolarized radar backscattering coefficients and the circular polarization ratio (CPR) are calculated as a function of incidence angle, regolith thickness, surface and subsurface roughness, surface slope, abundance and shape of buried rocks, and the FeO+TiO 2 content of the regolith. Simulation results show that the polarized (opposite sense) radar echo strength at S and X bands is mostly dominated by scattering from the rough surface and buried rocks, while the depolarized (same sense) radar echo strength is dominated by scattering from buried rocks or ice inclusions. Finally, to explore the expected polarimetric signature of ice in the polar permanently shadowed areas, four parametric regolith models are considered and the possibility of detecting diffuse ice inclusions by the CPR is addressed. Our study suggests that detection of ice inclusions at the lunar poles using solely the CPR will be difficult given the small dielectric contrast between the regolith and ice.

1] A theoretical model for radar scattering from the lunar regolith using the vector radiative transfer theory for random media has been developed in order to aid in the interpretation of Mini-SAR data from the Chandrayaan-1 and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions. The lunar regolith is represented as a homogeneous fine-grained layer with rough upper and lower parallel interfaces that possesses embedded inclusions with a different dielectric constant. Our model considers five scattering mechanisms in the regolith layer: diffuse scattering from both the surface and subsurface, volume scattering from buried inclusions, and the interactions of scattering between buried inclusions and the rough interfaces (both the lunar surface and subsurface). Multiple scattering between buried inclusions and coherent backscatter opposite effect are not considered in the current model. The modeled radar scattering coefficients are validated using numerical finite difference time domain simulations and are compared with incident angle-averaged Earth-based radar observations of the Moon. Both polarized and depolarized radar backscattering coefficients and the circular polarization ratio (CPR) are calculated as a function of incidence angle, regolith thickness, surface and subsurface roughness, surface slope, abundance and shape of buried rocks, and the FeO+TiO 2 content of the regolith. Simulation results show that the polarized (opposite sense) radar echo strength at S and X bands is mostly dominated by scattering from the rough surface and buried rocks, while the depolarized (same sense) radar echo strength is dominated by scattering from buried rocks or ice inclusions. Finally, to explore the expected polarimetric signature of ice in the polar permanently shadowed areas, four parametric regolith models are considered and the possibility of detecting diffuse ice inclusions by the CPR is addressed. Our study suggests that detection of ice inclusions at the lunar poles using solely the CPR will be difficult given the small dielectric contrast between the regolith and ice.

The Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) system is manifested on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) as a technology demonstration and an extended mission science instrument. Mini-RF represents a significant step forward in spaceborne RF technology and architecture. It combines synthetic aperture radar (SAR) at two wavelengths (S-band and X-band) and two resolutions (150 m and 30 m) with interferometric and communications functionality in one lightweight (16 kg) package. Previous radar observations (Earth-based, and one bistatic data set from Clementine) of the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles seem to indicate areas of high circular polarization ratio (CPR) consistent with volume scattering from volatile deposits (e.g. water ice) buried at shallow (0.1-1 m) depth, but only at unfavorable viewing geometries, and with inconclusive results. The LRO Mini-RF utilizes new wideband hybrid polarization architecture to measure the Stokes parameters of the reflected signal. These data will help to differentiate "true" volumetric ice reflections from "false" returns due to angular surface regolith. Additional lunar science investigations (e.g. pyroclastic deposit characterization) will also be attempted during the LRO extended mission. LRO's lunar operations will be contemporaneous with India's Chandrayaan-1, which carries the Forerunner Mini-SAR (S-band wavelength and 150-m resolution), and bistatic radar (S-Band) measurements may be possible. On orbit calibration, procedures for LRO

A new analysis of the Doppler tracking data from the Lunar Prospector mission in 1999 revealed a number of previously-unseen gravity anomalies at spatial scales as small as 27 km over the nearside. The tracking data at low altitudes (50 km or below) were better analyzed to resolve the nearside features without dampening from a power law constraint, by partitioning the gravity parameters concentrated on either the nearside or farside. The resulting model presents gravity anomalies correlated with topography with a correlation coefficient of 0.7 or higher from degree 50 to 150, the widest bandwidth yet. The gravity-topography admittance of 70 mGal/km is found from numerous craters of which diameters are 60 km or less. In addition, the new model produces orbits that fit to independent radio tracking data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Kaguya (SELENE) better than previous gravity models. This highresolution model can be of immediate use to geophysical analysis of small craters. Our technique could be applied to an upcoming mission, the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory and useful to extract short wavelength signals from the MESSENGER Doppler data.

The objective of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Laser Ranging (LR) system is to collect precise measurements of range that allow the spacecraft to achieve its requirement for precision orbit determination. The LR will make one-way range measurements via laser pulse time-of-flight from Earth to LRO, and will determine the position of the spacecraft at a sub-meter level with respect to ground stations on Earth and the center of mass of the Moon. Ranging will occur whenever LRO is visible in the line of sight from participating Earth ground tracking stations. The LR consists of two primary components, a flight system and ground system. The flight system consists of a small receiver telescope mounted on the LRO high-gain antenna that captures the uplinked laser signal, and a fiber optic cable that routes the signal to the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on LRO. The LOLA instrument receiver records the time of the laser signal based on an ultrastable crystal oscillator, and provides the information to the onboard LRO data system for storage and/or transmittal to the ground through the spacecraft radio frequency link. The LR ground system consists of a network of satellite laser ranging stations, a data reception and distribution facility, and the LOLA Science Operations Center. LR measurements will enable the determination of a three-dimensional geodetic grid for the Moon based on the precise seleno-location of ground spots from LOLA.

The scientific objectives of neutron mapping of the Moon are presented as 3 investigation tasks of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. Two tasks focus on mapping hydrogen content over the entire Moon and on testing the presence of water-ice deposits at the bottom of permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. The third task corresponds to the determination of neutron contribution to the total radiation dose at an altitude of 50 km above the Moon. We show that the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) will be capable of carrying out all 3 investigations. The design concept of LEND is presented together with results of numerical simulations of the instrument's sensitivity for hydrogen detection. The sensitivity of LEND is shown to be characterized by a hydrogen detection limit of about 100 ppm for a polar reference area with a radius of 5 km. If the presence of ice deposits in polar "cold traps" is confirmed, a unique record of many millions of years of lunar history would be obtained, by which the history of lunar impacts could be discerned from the layers of water ice and dust. Future applications of a LEND-type instrument for Mars orbital observations are also discussed.

Page 1. Space Sci Rev (2010) 150: 161–181 DOI 10.1007/s11214-009-9578-6 LAMP: The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission G. Randall Gladstone · S. Alan Stern · Kurt D. Retherford ...

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will launch in early 2009 carrying multiple instruments for lunar study including the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center built Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). Also part of the mission will be the Laser Ranging (LR) instrument, which consists of a 2 cm aperture receive telescope mounted on the High Gain Antenna and a fiber optic bundle from this aperture to one of the LOLA detectors. Laser Ranging to LRO is an uplink-only measurement where ground stations time-tag their laser fires and LOLA measures the receive times to better than 10 centimeter precision with subcentimeter resolution. This information will be used to improve the orbital knowledge which in turn will support the lunar gravity model development. While NASA's Next Generation Laser Ranging System (NGSLR) is the primary ground station for LR, multiple International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) stations will also be supporting this historic mission, providing much better cover...

In the past year, a unique capability has been created by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in support of Lunar Exploration. The photonics group along with support from the Mechanical Systems Division, developed a seven fiber array assembly using a custom Diamond AVIM PM connector for space flight applications. This technology enabled the Laser Ranging Application for the LRO to be possible. Laser pulses at 532 nm will be transmitted from the earth to the LRO stationed at the moon and used to make distance assessments. The pulses will be collected with the Laser Ranging telescope and focused into the array assemblies. The array assemblies span down a boom, through gimbals and across the space craft to the instrument the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). Through use of a LOLA detector the distance between the LRO and the Earth will be calculated simultaneously while LOLA is mapping the surface of the moon. The seven fiber array assemblies were designed in partnership with W...

Remote Sensing of Lunar Surface has provided its Topographic, Geo-chemical composition, Radiation dose and Mineralogical information of Lunar Surface. The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-1 and National Aeronautical Space Administration's (NASA) Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have different type of sensors for measuring and mapping of the entire Lunar Surface. For the Mapping of Topographical features Chandrayaan-1 has Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), while Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). For determination of Chemical and Mineralogical features Chandrayaan-1 has Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument. The mapping of Geo-chemicals has been done by Chandryaan-1 X-ray spectrometer (C1XS) and High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX) onboard Chandrayaan-1 and Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) onboard Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The knowledge of mineral composition has been used for getting information about the evolution history of Moon. For this purpose the Chandrayaan-1 has Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI), near Infrared Spectrometer (SIR-2) and Moon Mineralogical Mapper (M 3) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has Lyman alpha Mapping Project (LAMP). Radiation dose measurement is also important for designing the sensors and future manned missions. Therefore, Chandrayaan-1 has Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has Cosmic Ray Telescope for determination of the Effect of Radiation (CRaTER). For the measurement of Backscattered or Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) and predetermination of surface for future landing missions Chandrayaan-1 has Subatomic Reflection Analyser (SARA) and Moon Impactor Probe respectively along with the other payloads. The LRO has the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE) for measuring the temperature fluctuations, rough terrain and other landing hazards similar to Moon Impactor Probe (MIP) onboard Chandrayaan-1. The active microwave sensors Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) onboard Chandrayaan-1 and Mini-RF onboard Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have been used for identifying the traces of water in form of ice in the permanently shadowed regions at the poles of the Moon. The Mini-SAR instrument onboard Chandrayaan-1 has a primary antenna which transmits single right circularly polarized signal and receives the dual polarized (Left and Right) signal. While the antenna of Miniature Radio Frequency Radar (Mini-RF) onboard LRO transmits either left or right circularly polarized signal and then receives horizontal and vertical polarized signals. The observations based on Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR>1) as well as m-chi (0 to 0.2) parameters and backscattering coefficient less than-15dB have helped in determining the presence of water-ice, differentiate the water-ice from rock abundances, surface and sub-surface characteristics for identifying the Possible landing sites for the future lunar missions. Quantification of water-ice in the Hermite-A crater gives the confirmation that only Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR) is not sufficient for identifying water-ice. The other parameters like m-chi and backscattering coefficient values must be taken into the consideration for distinguishing between water-ice and rocky terrains. The Dielectric properties of Terrestrial Analogue of Lunar Soil (TALS) have been studied and compared with the Apollo samples at different microwave frequencies. The study of variations in complex permittivity of TALS having different percentages of water has been done at different temperatures. The variable Permittivity mapping of lunar surface has been done by using datasets of Microwave Radiometer (MRM) onboard Chang'e-1 and Diviner onboard LRO. The success of Chandrayaan-1 and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has greatly helped Scientist to go for further investigations in the areas of water-ice using microwave sensors for future missions for exploration the Moon.

The Photonics Group at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in the Electrical Engineering Division of the Advanced Engineering and Technologies Directorate has been involved in the design, development, characterization, qualification, manufacturing, integration and anomaly analysis of optical fiber subsystems for over a decade. The group supports a variety of instrumentation across NASA and outside entities that build flight systems. Among the projects currently supported are: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Science Laboratory, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Express Logistics Carrier for the International Space Station and the NASA Electronic Parts . and Packaging Program. A collection of the most pertinent infonnation gathered during project support over the past year in regards to space flight performance of optical fiber components is presented here. The objective is to provid~ guidance for future space flight designs of instrumentation and communication systems.

1] In preparation for the radio science experiment of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, we analyzed the available radio tracking data of previous NASA lunar orbiters. Our goal was to use these historical observations in combination with the new low-altitude data to be obtained by LRO. We performed Precision Orbit Determination on trajectory arcs from Lunar Orbiter 1 in 1966 to Lunar Prospector in 1998, using the GEODYN II program developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We then created a set of normal equations and solved for the coefficients of a spherical harmonics expansion of the lunar gravity potential up to degree and order 150. The GLGM-3 solution obtained with a global Kaula constraint (2.5 × 10 −4 l −2 ) shows good agreement with model LP150Q from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, especially over the nearside. The levels of data fit with both gravity models are very similar (Doppler RMS of ∼0.2 and ∼1-2 mm/s in the nominal and extended phases, respectively). Orbit overlaps and uncertainties estimated from the covariance matrix also agree well. GLGM-3 shows better correlation with lunar topography and admittance over the nearside at high degrees of expansion (l > 100), particularly near the poles. We also present three companion solutions, obtained with the same data set but using alternate inversion strategies that modify the power law constraint and expectation of the individual spherical harmonics coefficients. We give a detailed discussion of the performance of this family of gravity field solutions in terms of observation fit, orbit quality, and geophysical consistency.

The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) is a far-ultraviolet (FUV) imaging spectrograph on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. Its main objectives are to (i) identify and localize exposed water frost in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), (ii) characterize landforms and albedos in PSRs, (iii) demonstrate the feasibility of using natural starlight and sky-glow illumination for future lunar surface mission applications, and (iv) characterize the lunar atmosphere and its variability. As a byproduct, LAMP will map a large fraction of the Moon at FUV wavelengths, allowing new studies of the microphysical and reflectance properties of the regolith. The LAMP FUV spectrograph will accomplish these objectives by measuring the signal reflected from the night-side lunar surface and in PSRs using both the interplanetary HI Lyman-α sky-glow and FUV starlight as light sources. Both these light sources provide fairly uniform, but faint, illumination. With the expected LAMP sensitivity, by the end of the primary 1-year LRO mission, the SNR for a Lyman-α albedo map should be >100 in polar regions >1 km2, providing useful FUV constraints to help characterize subtle compositional and structural features. The LAMP instrument is based on the flight-proven Alice series of spectrographs flying on the Rosetta comet mission and the New Horizons Pluto mission. A general description of the LAMP instrument and its initial ground calibration results are presented here.

1] In preparation for the radio science experiment of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, we analyzed the available radio tracking data of previous NASA lunar orbiters. Our goal was to use these historical observations in combination with the new low-altitude data to be obtained by LRO. We performed Precision Orbit Determination on trajectory arcs from Lunar Orbiter 1 in 1966 to Lunar Prospector in 1998, using the GEODYN II program developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We then created a set of normal equations and solved for the coefficients of a spherical harmonics expansion of the lunar gravity potential up to degree and order 150. The GLGM-3 solution obtained with a global Kaula constraint (2.5 × 10 −4 l −2 ) shows good agreement with model LP150Q from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, especially over the nearside. The levels of data fit with both gravity models are very similar (Doppler RMS of ∼0.2 and ∼1-2 mm/s in the nominal and extended phases, respectively). Orbit overlaps and uncertainties estimated from the covariance matrix also agree well. GLGM-3 shows better correlation with lunar topography and admittance over the nearside at high degrees of expansion (l > 100), particularly near the poles. We also present three companion solutions, obtained with the same data set but using alternate inversion strategies that modify the power law constraint and expectation of the individual spherical harmonics coefficients. We give a detailed discussion of the performance of this family of gravity field solutions in terms of observation fit, orbit quality, and geophysical consistency.

The photonics group in Code 562 at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center supports a variety of space flight programs at NASA including the: International Space Station (ISS), Shuttle Return to Flight Mission, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Express Logistics Carrier (ELC), and the NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Program (NEPP). Through research, development, and testing of the photonic systems to support these missions much information has been gathered on practical implementations for space environments. Presented here are the highlights and lessons learned as a result of striving to satisfy the project requirements for high performance and reliable commercial optical fiber components for space flight systems. The approach of how to qualify optical fiber components for harsh environmental conditions, the physics of failure and development lessons learned will be discussed.

Page 1. Space Sci Rev (2010) 150: 161–181 DOI 10.1007/s11214-009-9578-6 LAMP: The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission G. Randall Gladstone · S. Alan Stern · Kurt D. Retherford ...

Space Sci Rev (2010) 150: 209–241 DOI 10.1007/s11214-009-9512-y ... The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Investigation on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission ... David E. Smith · Maria T. Zuber · Glenn B. Jackson · John F. Cavanaugh · Gregory A. Neumann · Haris ...

The Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP) is managing a suite of lunar mapping and modeling tools and data products that support lunar exploration activities, including the planning, de-sign, development, test, and operations associated with crewed and/or robotic operations on the lunar surface. Although the project was initiated primarily to serve the needs of the Constellation program, it is equally suited for supporting landing site selection and planning for a variety of robotic missions, including NASA science and/or human precursor missions and commercial missions such as those planned by the Google Lunar X-Prize participants. In addition, LMMP should prove to be a convenient and useful tool for scientific analysis and for education and public out-reach (E/PO) activities.

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) is an instrument on the payload of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft (LRO) (Chin et al., in Space Sci. Rev. 129:391-419, 2007). The instrument is designed to measure the shape of the Moon by measuring precisely the range from the spacecraft to the lunar surface, and incorporating precision orbit determination of LRO, referencing surface ranges to the Moon's center of mass. LOLA has 5 beams and operates at 28 Hz, with a nominal accuracy of 10 cm. Its primary objective is to produce a global geodetic grid for the Moon to which all other observations can be precisely referenced.

The Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) system is manifested on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) as a technology demonstration and an extended mission science instrument. Mini-RF represents a significant step forward in spaceborne RF technology and architecture. It combines synthetic aperture radar (SAR) at two wavelengths (S-band and X-band) and two resolutions (150 m and 30 m) with interferometric and communications functionality in one lightweight (16 kg) package. Previous radar observations (Earth-based, and one bistatic data set from Clementine) of the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles seem to indicate areas of high circular polarization ratio (CPR) consistent with volume scattering from volatile deposits (e.g. water ice) buried at shallow (0.1-1 m) depth, but only at unfavorable viewing geometries, and with inconclusive results. The LRO Mini-RF utilizes new wideband hybrid polarization architecture to measure the Stokes parameters of the reflected signal. These data will help to differentiate "true" volumetric ice reflections from "false" returns due to angular surface regolith. Additional lunar science investigations (e.g. pyroclastic deposit characterization) will also be attempted during the LRO extended mission. LRO's lunar operations will be contemporaneous with India's Chandrayaan-1, which carries the Forerunner Mini-SAR (S-band wavelength and 150-m resolution), and bistatic radar (S-Band) measurements may be possible. On orbit calibration, procedures for LRO

1) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (2) SGT Incorporated (3) Honeywell Technology Solutions Incorporated (4) University of Texas at Austin (5) Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (6) Raytheon Information Solutions [email protected]/ +1Abstract The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will launch in early 2009 carrying multiple instruments for lunar study including the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center built Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). Also part of the mission will be the Laser Ranging (LR) instrument, which consists of a 2 cm aperture receive telescope mounted on the High Gain Antenna and a fiber optic bundle from this aperture to one of the LOLA detectors. Laser Ranging to LRO is an uplink-only measurement where ground stations time-tag their laser fires and LOLA measures the receive times to better than 10 centimeter precision with subcentimeter resolution. This information will be used to improve the orbital knowledge which in turn will support the lunar gravity model development. While NASA's Next Generation Laser Ranging System (NGSLR) is the primary ground station for LR, multiple International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) stations will also be supporting this historic mission, providing much better coverage than a single station could provide. Data from all of the participating ILRS stations will be sent to the LOLA Science Operations Center (SOC) where ground fire events will be matched with LOLA events and ranges produced. Coordination of the global effort will be at the Goddard Space Flight Center, where predictions and schedules will be created, data archived (CDDIS), and an LR science product generated (LOLA SOC).

The objective of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Laser Ranging (LR) system is to collect precise measurements of range that allow the spacecraft to achieve its requirement for precision orbit determination. The LR will make one-way range measurements via laser pulse time-of-flight from Earth to LRO, and will determine the position of the spacecraft at a sub-meter level with respect to ground stations on Earth and the center of mass of the Moon. Ranging will occur whenever LRO is visible in the line of sight from participating Earth ground tracking stations. The LR consists of two primary components, a flight system and ground system. The flight system consists of a small receiver telescope mounted on the LRO high-gain antenna that captures the uplinked laser signal, and a fiber optic cable that routes the signal to the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on LRO. The LOLA instrument receiver records the time of the laser signal based on an ultrastable crystal oscillator, and provides the information to the onboard LRO data system for storage and/or transmittal to the ground through the spacecraft radio frequency link. The LR ground system consists of a network of satellite laser ranging stations, a data reception and distribution facility, and the LOLA Science Operations Center. LR measurements will enable the determination of a three-dimensional geodetic grid for the Moon based on the precise seleno-location of ground spots from LOLA.

In 1970, the Soviet Lunokhod 1 rover delivered a French-built laser reflector to the Moon. Although a few range measurements were made within three months of its landing, these measurements-and any that may have followed-are unpublished and unavailable. The Lunokhod 1 reflector was, therefore, effectively lost until March of 2010 when images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) provided a positive identification of the rover and determined its coordinates with uncertainties of about 100 m. This allowed the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO) to quickly acquire a laser signal. The reflector appears to be in excellent condition, delivering a signal roughly four times stronger than its twin reflector on the Lunokhod 2 rover. The Lunokhod 1 reflector is especially valuable for science because it is closer to the Moon's limb than any of the other reflectors and, unlike the Lunokhod 2 reflector, we find that it is usable during the lunar day. We report the selenographic position of the reflector to few-centimeter accuracy, comment on the health of the reflector, and illustrate the value of this reflector for achieving science goals.

Local surface temperatures on the Moon are rarely completely isothermal, due to the variable absorption of solar and infrared radiation by small scale surface roughness (e.g. rocks and boulders) (1). For radiometric measurements like those taken by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer (2), this means that different spectral channels typically record different brightness temperatures for the same scene when multiple temperature components are present (i.e. "anisothermality") within a single pixel (typically ~250 m for Diviner's nadir observations). At the LCROSS impact site (3), Diviner observed a minor anisothermality signature manifested as differences in brightness temperatures (T b ch , where ch is channel number) between channels.

On 9 October 2009, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) sent a kinetic impactor to strike Cabeus crater, on a mission to search for water ice and other volatiles expected to be trapped in lunar polar soils. The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) ultraviolet spectrograph onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) observed the plume generated by the LCROSS impact as far-ultraviolet emissions from the fluorescence of sunlight by molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide, plus resonantly scattered sunlight from atomic mercury, with contributions from calcium and magnesium. The observed light curve is well simulated by the expansion of a vapor cloud at a temperature of ~1000 kelvin, containing ~570 kilograms (kg) of carbon monoxide, ~140 kg of molecular hydrogen, ~160 kg of calcium, ~120 kg of mercury, and ~40 kg of magnesium.

NASA s long-term exploration goals include a return to manned missions to the Moon that will culminate in a perma-nent manned station on the Moon. Prior to embarking on such a mission, a series of precursor unmanned robotic missions are required to ascertain the ...

Great progress has been made in understanding the composition and sources of variation in the radiation environment of the inner heliosphere A fundamental step in translating the primary spectrum of radiation into biological and hardware effects is understanding the evolution of the linear energy transfer LET of these particles as they pass through matter At high energies this process is complicated by uncertainties in our knowledge of nuclear fragmentation cross sections and in the limitations of modern propagation codes We present the design of the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation an instrument selected for flight on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO spacecraft LRO is the first mission in the NASA Robotic Lunar Exploration Program and is planned for launch in late 2008 The overall mission objective is to prepare for and to support future human exploration of the moon To achieve that objective LRO includes investigations that will characterize the lunar radiatio...

The objective of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Laser Ranging (LR) system is to collect precise measurements of range that allow the spacecraft to achieve its requirement for precision orbit determination. The LR will make one-way range measurements via laser pulse time-of-flight from Earth to LRO, and will determine the position of the spacecraft at a sub-meter level with respect to ground stations on Earth and the center of mass of the Moon. Ranging will occur whenever LRO is visible in the line of sight from participating Earth ground tracking stations. The LR consists of two primary components, a flight system and ground system. The flight system consists of a small receiver telescope mounted on the LRO high-gain antenna that captures the uplinked laser signal, and a fiber optic cable that routes the signal to the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on LRO. The LOLA instrument receiver records the time of the laser signal based on an ultrastable crystal oscillator, and provides the information to the onboard LRO data system for storage and/or transmittal to the ground through the spacecraft radio frequency link. The LR ground system consists of a network of satellite laser ranging stations, a data reception and distribution facility, and the LOLA Science Operations Center. LR measurements will enable the determination of a three-dimensional geodetic grid for the Moon based on the precise seleno-location of ground spots from LOLA.

The design of the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) experiment is presented, which was optimized to address several of the primary measurement requirements of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO): high spatial resolution hydrogen mapping of the Moon’s upper-most surface, identification of putative deposits of appreciable near-surface water ice in the Moon’s polar cold traps, and characterization of the human-relevant space radiation environment in lunar orbit. A comprehensive program of LEND instrument physical calibrations is discussed and the baseline scenario of LEND observations from the primary LRO lunar orbit is presented. LEND data products will be useful for determining the next stages of the emerging global lunar exploration program, and they will facilitate the study of the physics of hydrogen implantation and diffusion in the regolith, test the presence of water ice deposits in lunar cold polar traps, and investigate the role of neutrons within the radiation environment of the shallow lunar surface.

An additional version of the RAD750 TM CompactPCI ® 6U radiation hardened single board computer has been developed and delivered for use on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission developed by NASA Goddard Flight Center, scheduled to launch in late 2008 as the first mission in preparation for manned missions to the Lunar surface. This new variant of the RAD750 processor incorporates both a SpaceWire router and 1553 interface. The LRO mission processor architecture represents a hybrid implementation in which the SpaceWire links, 1553 bus, and PCI bus are all utilized to interconnect the flight computer and on-board instruments. The RAD750 computer includes 36 MB of radiation hardened SRAM, 4 MB of non-volatile memory, and the ability to support PROM or EEPROM in its SUROM locations. The computer also includes an additional 8 MB of radiation hardened SRAM dedicated to supporting the SpaceWire ASIC that provides a four port router through a PCI interface. The 1553 interface consists of an Actel FPGA, Aeroflex "SµMMIT DXE" ASIC, and dedicated memory. SpaceWire transport layer software was developed for the embedded microcontroller that resides on the SpaceWire ASIC using a C compiler developed by BAE Systems. This paper discusses the definition of the new processor board configuration, definition and development of the software, and validation of the board through delivery to the mission. In addition, a preview of the next generation RAD750 processor board will be discussed, in which an improved four port SpaceWire router is incorporated directly into the third generation Power PCI bridge ASIC. This increased level of integration improves size, weight, and power of the flight computer while also adding features and increasing performance.

The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) is a far-ultraviolet (FUV) imaging spectrograph on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. Its main objectives are to (i) identify and localize exposed water frost in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), (ii) characterize landforms and albedos in PSRs, (iii) demonstrate the feasibility of using natural starlight and sky-glow illumination for future lunar surface mission applications, and (iv) characterize the lunar atmosphere and its variability. As a byproduct, LAMP will map a large fraction of the Moon at FUV wavelengths, allowing new studies of the microphysical and reflectance properties of the regolith. The LAMP FUV spectrograph will accomplish these objectives by measuring the signal reflected from the night-side lunar surface and in PSRs using both the interplanetary HI Lyman-α sky-glow and FUV starlight as light sources. Both these light sources provide fairly uniform, but faint, illumination. With the expected LAMP sensitivity, by the end of the primary 1-year LRO mission, the SNR for a Lyman-α albedo map should be >100 in polar regions >1 km 2 , providing useful FUV constraints to help characterize subtle compositional and structural features. The LAMP instrument is

We present the results on precision orbit determination from the radio science investigation of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. We describe the data, modeling and methods used to achieve position knowledge several times better than the required 50-100 m (in total position), over the period from 13 July 2009 to 31 January 2011. In addition to the near-continuous radiometric tracking data, we include altimetric data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) in the form of crossover measurements, and show that they strongly improve the accuracy of the orbit reconstruction (total position overlap differences decrease from ∼70 m to ∼23 m). To refine the spacecraft trajectory further, we develop a lunar gravity field by combining the newly acquired LRO data with the historical data. The reprocessing of the spacecraft trajectory with that model shows significantly increased accuracy (∼20 m with only the radiometric data, and ∼14 m with the addition of the altimetric crossovers). LOLA topographic maps and calibration data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera were used to supplement the results of the overlap analysis and demonstrate the trajectory accuracy.