Mapping the topography of Mercury with MESSENGER laser altimetry
The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) is one of seven instruments on NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. MESSENGER was launched on 3 August 2004, and entered into orbit about Mercury on 18 March 2011 after a journey through the inner solar system....
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| Format: | Article |
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SPIE-Intl Soc Optical Eng
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118915 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2652-8017 |
| _version_ | 1826198320220995584 |
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| author | Sun, Xiaoli Cavanaugh, John Neumann, Gregory A Zuber, Maria Smith, David Edmund |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Sun, Xiaoli Cavanaugh, John Neumann, Gregory A Zuber, Maria Smith, David Edmund |
| author_sort | Sun, Xiaoli |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) is one of seven instruments on NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. MESSENGER was launched on 3 August 2004, and entered into orbit about Mercury on 18 March 2011 after a journey through the inner solar system. This involved six planetary flybys, including three of Mercury. MLA is designed to map the topography and land- forms of Mercury’s surface. It also measures the planet’s forced libration (motion about the spin axis), which helps constrain the state of the core. The first science measurements from orbit taken with MLA were made on 29 March 2011 and continue to date. MLA had accumulated about 8.3 million laser ranging measurements to Mercury’s surface, as of 31 July 2012, i.e., over six Mercury years (528 Earth days). |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:03:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/118915 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:03:01Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | SPIE-Intl Soc Optical Eng |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1189152024-05-15T09:00:29Z Mapping the topography of Mercury with MESSENGER laser altimetry Sun, Xiaoli Cavanaugh, John Neumann, Gregory A Zuber, Maria Smith, David Edmund Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Neumann, Gregory A Smith, David E. Zuber, Maria The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) is one of seven instruments on NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. MESSENGER was launched on 3 August 2004, and entered into orbit about Mercury on 18 March 2011 after a journey through the inner solar system. This involved six planetary flybys, including three of Mercury. MLA is designed to map the topography and land- forms of Mercury’s surface. It also measures the planet’s forced libration (motion about the spin axis), which helps constrain the state of the core. The first science measurements from orbit taken with MLA were made on 29 March 2011 and continue to date. MLA had accumulated about 8.3 million laser ranging measurements to Mercury’s surface, as of 31 July 2012, i.e., over six Mercury years (528 Earth days). 2018-11-06T15:37:32Z 2018-11-06T15:37:32Z 2012-10 2018-10-05T12:01:05Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 18182259 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118915 Sun, Xiaoli, John Cavanaugh, Gregory Neumann, David Smith, and Maria Zuber. “Mapping the Topography of Mercury with MESSENGER Laser Altimetry.” SPIE Newsroom (October 26, 2012). https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2652-8017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/2.1201210.004489 SPIE Newsroom Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf SPIE-Intl Soc Optical Eng SPIE |
| spellingShingle | Sun, Xiaoli Cavanaugh, John Neumann, Gregory A Zuber, Maria Smith, David Edmund Mapping the topography of Mercury with MESSENGER laser altimetry |
| title | Mapping the topography of Mercury with MESSENGER laser altimetry |
| title_full | Mapping the topography of Mercury with MESSENGER laser altimetry |
| title_fullStr | Mapping the topography of Mercury with MESSENGER laser altimetry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mapping the topography of Mercury with MESSENGER laser altimetry |
| title_short | Mapping the topography of Mercury with MESSENGER laser altimetry |
| title_sort | mapping the topography of mercury with messenger laser altimetry |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118915 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2652-8017 |
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