Planets and Moons  ID: 3866

LOLA Footprints II

LOLA, the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, is an instrument for measuring the altitude of the Moon's terrain. As LRO orbits the Moon, LOLA bounces laser light off the lunar surface 28 times per second. An array of five sensors arranged in an X-shape detects the reflected light. The amount of time it takes the light to travel to the surface and back to the sensors tells the instrument how far away the surface is. Over time, LOLA builds up a complete elevation map of the Moon.

This animation illustrates how the X-shaped LOLA sensor footprint travels over the lunar surface. The LOLA data track is taken from LRO orbit number 1155, on September 27, 2009, as the spacecraft passed over Amundsen crater near the lunar south pole. It begins with a distant view showing the entire crater, then switches to a view near the surface that chases the laser pulses over the central peak and across the floor of this large crater. Through most of the movie, the laser pulses are shown racing across the surface at actual speed, but at one point, the pace is slowed so that the viewer can see the sensor pattern of each individual laser pulse.

The imagery of the ground view is a high-resolution photograph taken by the LRO narrow-angle camera at the same time this LOLA data track was being recorded. The shape of the terrain in all of the views is taken from LOLA elevation maps. All of this data is publicly available from the Planetary Data System's LRO archive.

This is a new and improved version of entry #3758.


Visualization Credits

Ernie Wright (USRA): Lead Animator
Andrew Freeberg (NASA/GSFC): Producer
Gregory A. Neumann (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3866

Mission:
LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)

Data Used:
LRO/LOLA/Digital Elevation Map also referred to as: DEM
2009 Sep 27
LRO/LROC/Narrow Angle Camera also referred to as: NAC
2009 Sep 27
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of these series:
The Moon
LRO - Animations

Keywords:
SVS >> Elevation data
SVS >> Flyover
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Laser Altimeter
SVS >> Lunar
SVS >> Moon
SVS >> LRO
SVS >> Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
SVS >> LOLA
SVS >> LROC
SVS >> Lunar Topography
SVS >> Solar System >> Moon >> Lunar Surface
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons