First two-way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array
Abstract We present the results of the first series of successful two-way laser ranging experiments from a ground station, the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) station in Grasse, France, to a spacecraft at lunar distance, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). A 15 × 18 × 5 cm, 650-g array of twelve 32-m...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131582 |
| _version_ | 1811085532954886144 |
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| author | Mazarico, Erwan Sun, Xiaoli Torre, Jean-Marie Courde, Clément Chabé, Julien Aimar, Mourad Mariey, Hervé Maurice, Nicolas Barker, Michael K Mao, Dandan Cremons, Daniel R Bouquillon, Sébastien Carlucci, Teddy Viswanathan, Vishnu Lemoine, Frank G Bourgoin, Adrien |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the Vice President for Research |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the Vice President for Research Mazarico, Erwan Sun, Xiaoli Torre, Jean-Marie Courde, Clément Chabé, Julien Aimar, Mourad Mariey, Hervé Maurice, Nicolas Barker, Michael K Mao, Dandan Cremons, Daniel R Bouquillon, Sébastien Carlucci, Teddy Viswanathan, Vishnu Lemoine, Frank G Bourgoin, Adrien |
| author_sort | Mazarico, Erwan |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Abstract
We present the results of the first series of successful two-way laser ranging experiments from a ground station, the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) station in Grasse, France, to a spacecraft at lunar distance, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). A 15 × 18 × 5 cm, 650-g array of twelve 32-mm diameter solid corner cubes is mounted on its anti-nadir deck. Ranging to this small retro-reflector array onboard a lunar orbiter from a ground station was a challenge compared to ranging to larger lunar surface retro-reflectors. Grasse measured 67 returns in two 6-min sessions on September 4, 2018. Clear returns were also recorded during two additional sessions on August 23–24, 2019 for which active slewing by LRO was performed to bring the array in view of the station. The measured echos yielded range residuals less than 3 cm (two-way time-of-flight RMS < 180 ps) relative to the reconstructed LRO trajectory. This experiment provides a new method of verifying theories of dust accumulation over decades on the lunar surface. It also showed that the use of similar arrays onboard future lunar landers and orbiters can support LLR lunar science goals, particularly with landing sites near the lunar limbs and poles, which would have better sensitivity to lunar orientation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:11:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/131582 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:11:06Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1315822023-11-03T15:36:56Z First two-way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array Mazarico, Erwan Sun, Xiaoli Torre, Jean-Marie Courde, Clément Chabé, Julien Aimar, Mourad Mariey, Hervé Maurice, Nicolas Barker, Michael K Mao, Dandan Cremons, Daniel R Bouquillon, Sébastien Carlucci, Teddy Viswanathan, Vishnu Lemoine, Frank G Bourgoin, Adrien Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the Vice President for Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Abstract We present the results of the first series of successful two-way laser ranging experiments from a ground station, the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) station in Grasse, France, to a spacecraft at lunar distance, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). A 15 × 18 × 5 cm, 650-g array of twelve 32-mm diameter solid corner cubes is mounted on its anti-nadir deck. Ranging to this small retro-reflector array onboard a lunar orbiter from a ground station was a challenge compared to ranging to larger lunar surface retro-reflectors. Grasse measured 67 returns in two 6-min sessions on September 4, 2018. Clear returns were also recorded during two additional sessions on August 23–24, 2019 for which active slewing by LRO was performed to bring the array in view of the station. The measured echos yielded range residuals less than 3 cm (two-way time-of-flight RMS < 180 ps) relative to the reconstructed LRO trajectory. This experiment provides a new method of verifying theories of dust accumulation over decades on the lunar surface. It also showed that the use of similar arrays onboard future lunar landers and orbiters can support LLR lunar science goals, particularly with landing sites near the lunar limbs and poles, which would have better sensitivity to lunar orientation. 2021-09-20T17:28:48Z 2021-09-20T17:28:48Z 2020-08-06 2020-08-07T03:45:53Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131582 Earth, Planets and Space. 2020 Aug 06;72(1):113 PUBLISHER_CC en https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-020-01243-w Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Author(s) application/pdf Springer Berlin Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| spellingShingle | Mazarico, Erwan Sun, Xiaoli Torre, Jean-Marie Courde, Clément Chabé, Julien Aimar, Mourad Mariey, Hervé Maurice, Nicolas Barker, Michael K Mao, Dandan Cremons, Daniel R Bouquillon, Sébastien Carlucci, Teddy Viswanathan, Vishnu Lemoine, Frank G Bourgoin, Adrien First two-way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array |
| title | First two-way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array |
| title_full | First two-way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array |
| title_fullStr | First two-way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array |
| title_full_unstemmed | First two-way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array |
| title_short | First two-way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter: infrared observations from the Grasse station to LRO’s retro-reflector array |
| title_sort | first two way laser ranging to a lunar orbiter infrared observations from the grasse station to lro s retro reflector array |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131582 |
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