Towards improved lunar reference frames

LRO orbit determination

authored by
Anno Löcher, Franz Hofmann, Philipp Gläser, Isabel Haase, Jürgen Müller, Jürgen Kusche, Jürgen Oberst
Abstract

Lunar reference systems are currently realized by sets of coordinates of the few laser reflectors deployed by Apollo astronauts and unmanned Soviet spacecrafts. Expanding this coordinate knowledge to other features identifiable in images of the lunar surface requires highly accurate orbits of the acquiring spacecraft. To support such activities using images and altimetry data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), an independent processing facility for tracking observations to LRO has been established. We present orbits from 1 year radio Doppler, radio ranging and laser ranging data obtained by different combinations of data types. To obtain an external confirmation for the achieved orbit accuracy, coordinates of the Apollo 15 reflector were measured in LRO images by photogrammetric techniques and compared to reference values from Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR). Coordinate differences were found to be at the 10m level.

Organisation(s)
Institute of Geodesy
External Organisation(s)
University of Bonn
Technische Universität Berlin
Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography
Type
Conference contribution
Pages
201-206
No. of pages
6
Publication date
01.01.2017
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Computers in Earth Sciences, Geophysics
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1007/1345_2015_146 (Access: Closed)
 

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