Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p13e..04a&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P13E-04
Physics
5420 Impact Phenomena, Cratering (6022, 8136), 5455 Origin And Evolution, 5462 Polar Regions, 5464 Remote Sensing, 5475 Tectonics (8149)
Scientific paper
The Japanese lunar explorer KAGUYA (SELENE) was launched successfully on September 14th, 2007. A laser altimeter (LALT) is on board the main orbiter of KAGUYA. The objectives of LALT are (1) determination of lunar global figure, (2) studies in internal structure and surface processes, (3) exploration of the lunar pole regions, and (4) reduction of lunar occultation data. LALT transmits laser pulses whose time width is about 20 nano-seconds and pulse interval is 1 second. Range accuracy is up to 5m. The range data are transformed to the topography of the moon with the aid of position and attitude data of the main orbiter. From the end of December 2007, LALT started continuous operation and a global topography map with unprecedented resolution was produced. Lunar mean radius is estimated as 1737.15±0.01 km and the COM-COF offset is 1.94 km based on the spherical harmonic model STM359_grid-02 derived from LALT topography. The amplitude of the power spectrum of STM359_grid-02 is larger than that of the previous model at L>30 degrees, which may reflect the process of basin formation and/or crustal evolution. In the polar regions where previous CLEMENTINE altimeter did not cover, many topographic features that were difficult to see on the imagery from spacecraft or ground based radar are discovered. The sunlit rate in the lunar polar regions is estimated by using the polar topographic map made from LALT topography. We found that i) the highest sunlit rate is 93~96 % in both polar regions and ii) the eternal shadow area is smaller than previous estimations. These results will be of great use for the planning of the lunar polar exploration in near future.
Araki Huzihiro
Goossens Sander
Ishihara Yasuhide
Kawano Naomi
Noda Hirotomo
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