The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) Technology Demonstration

Nozette, S.; Spudis, P. D.; Bussey, B.; Jensen, R.; Raney, Keith; Winters, Helene; Lichtenberg, Christopher L.; Marinelli, William J.; Crusan, Jason; Gates, Michele; Robinson, M. S.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-6391-8_12

Cited by 26 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The Mini-RF flight instrument had to meet stringent mass and power constraints as well as accommodate a dual-linearly-polarized (H and V) antenna design as part of the technology demonstration theme of the experiment [Nozette et al, 2010;Raney et al, 2011]. Thus, an unusual analytical approach to look for ice was developed for the Mini-RF experiment [Raney, 2007].…”

Section: Experiments Design and Instrument Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission payload was optimized to provide an abundance and diversity of data and information on the environment and deposits of the lunar polar regions [Chin et al, 2007]. The Mini-RF instrument is a synthetic aperture imaging radar that flew on both the Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan-1 (also called Mini-SAR (for miniature synthetic aperture radar) on that mission only) and on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft [Spudis et al, 2009;Nozette et al, 2010;Raney et al, 2011]. Mini-RF was specifically designed to map the polar regions of the Moon, including the permanently dark, "cold-trap" areas, and characterize the RF properties and physical nature of the deposits there.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for water ice on the Moon: Results for anomalous polar craters from the LRO Mini‐RF imaging radar

et al. 2013

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[1] The Mini-RF radar instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft mapped both lunar poles in two different RF wavelengths (complete mapping at 12.6 cm S-band and partial mapping at 4.2 cm X-band) in two look directions, removing much of the ambiguity of previous Earth-and spacecraft-based radar mapping of the Moon's polar regions. The poles are typical highland terrain, showing expected values of radar cross section (albedo) and circular polarization ratio (CPR). Most fresh craters display high values of CPR in and outside the crater rim; the pattern of these CPR distributions is consistent with high levels of wavelength-scale surface roughness associated with the presence of block fields, impact melt flows, and fallback breccia. A different class of polar crater exhibits high CPR only in their interiors, interiors that are both permanently dark and very cold (less than 100 K). Application of scattering models developed previously suggests that these anomalously high-CPR deposits exhibit behavior consistent with the presence of water ice. If this interpretation is correct, then both poles may contain several hundred million tons of water in the form of relatively "clean" ice, all within the upper couple of meters of the lunar surface. The existence of significant water ice deposits enables both long-term human habitation of the Moon and the creation of a permanent cislunar space transportation system based upon the harvest and use of lunar propellant.

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Section: Experiments Design and Instrument Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for water ice on the Moon: Results for anomalous polar craters from the LRO Mini‐RF imaging radar

et al. 2013

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“…[12] Radar observations at 12.6 cm wavelength from both ground (Arecibo) and spacecraft (LRO Mini-RF [Nozette et al, 2010] total power images at higher spatial resolution) suggest a similar degree of roughness within and outside the sinuous melt feature making it indistinguishable from the surrounding melt deposit [B. Campbell and L. Carter, Pers. Comm.…”

Section: Surface Morphology and Texturementioning

confidence: 99%

Large mineralogically distinct impact melt feature at Copernicus crater – Evidence for retention of compositional heterogeneity

Dhingra

Pieters

Head

et al. 2013

Geophysical Research Letters

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Despite several lines of evidence for efficient mixing of impact melt in complex craters, we document mineralogical heterogeneity in impact melt deposit on a scale of tens of kilometers on the Moon in the 96 km‐diameter Copernicus crater. This heterogeneity is in the form of a large, sinuous impact melt feature on the floor and northern wall that is spectrally distinct from melt in its immediate vicinity. This melt feature spanning >30 km in length and 0.5–5 km in width has relatively short‐wavelength, narrow ferrous absorption bands near ~900 nm and ~2000 nm indicating a more Mg‐rich pyroxene composition as compared to impact melt deposit in the vicinity which is relatively rich in Fe/Ca‐pyroxenes. This distinction provides evidence for the preservation of compositional heterogeneity in impact melt in complex craters on the Moon and documents an example of inefficient mixing of melt during the cratering process.

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“…Mini-RF on LRO (Nozette et al 2010;Raney et al 2011) is substantially more capable than the Chandrayaan-1 Forerunner, adding a second wavelength (X band, 4.2 cm), a 7.5 m/pixel zoom mode, and capabilities for interferometry and bistatic observations. Between the beginning of operations in 2009 July and the failure of the transmitter in 2010 December, the instrument obtained near-complete S-band zoom coverage of both poles to about 70°, with both eastward and westward look and illumination directions, as well as ~70% coverage from 80°-90° N in X-baseline mode.…”

Section: Lromentioning

confidence: 99%

Lunar Cartography: Progress in the 2000s and Prospects for the 2010s

Kirk¹,

Archinal²,

Gaddis³

et al. 2012

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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ABSTRACT:The first decade of the 21st century has seen a new golden age of lunar exploration, with more missions than in any decade since the 1960's and many more nations participating than at any time in the past. We have previously summarized the history of lunar mapping and described the lunar missions planned for the 2000 's (Kirk et al. 20062007;. Here we report on the outcome of lunar missions of this decade, the data gathered, the cartographic work accomplished and what remains to be done, and what is known about mission plans for the coming decade. Four missions of lunar orbital reconnaissance were launched and completed in the decade 2001-2010: SMART-1 (European Space Agency), SELENE/Kaguya (Japan), Chang'e-1 (China), and Chandrayaan-1 (India). In addition, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or LRO (USA) is in an extended mission, and Chang'e-2 (China) operated in lunar orbit in 2010-2011. All these spacecraft have incorporated cameras capable of providing basic data for lunar mapping, and all but SMART-1 carried laser altimeters. Chang'e-1, Chang'e-2, Kaguya, and Chandrayaan-1 carried pushbroom stereo cameras intended for stereo mapping at scales of 120, 10, 10, and 5 m/pixel respectively, and LRO is obtaining global stereo imaging at 100 m/pixel with its Wide Angle Camera (WAC) and hundreds of targeted stereo observations at 0.5 m/pixel with its Narrow Angle Camera (NAC). Chandrayaan-1 and LRO carried polarimetric synthetic aperture radars capable of 75 m/pixel and (LRO only) 7.5 m/pixel imaging even in shadowed areas, and most missions carried spectrometers and imaging spectrometers whose lower resolution data are urgently in need of coregistration with other datasets and correction for topographic and illumination effects. The volume of data obtained is staggering. As one example, the LRO laser altimeter, LOLA, has so far made more than 5.5 billion elevation measurements, and the LRO Camera (LROC) system has returned more than 1.3 million archived image products comprising over 220 Terabytes of image data. The processing of controlled map products from these data is as yet relatively limited. A substantial portion of the LOLA altimetry data have been subjected to a global crossover analysis, and local crossover analyses of Chang'e-1 LAM altimetry have also been performed. LRO NAC stereo digital topographic models (DTMs) and orthomosaics of numerous sites of interest have been prepared based on control to LOLA data, and production of controlled mosaics and DTMs from Mini-RF radar images has begun. Many useful datasets (e.g., DTMs from LRO WAC images and Kaguya Terrain Camera images) are currently uncontrolled. Making controlled, orthorectified map products is obviously a high priority for lunar cartography, and scientific use of the vast multinational set of lunar data now available will be most productive if all observations can be integrated into a single reference frame. To achieve this goal, the key steps required are (a) joint registration and reconciliation of the laser altimeter data from multip...

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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) Technology Demonstration

Cited by 26 publications

References 15 publications

Evidence for water ice on the Moon: Results for anomalous polar craters from the LRO Mini‐RF imaging radar

Evidence for water ice on the Moon: Results for anomalous polar craters from the LRO Mini‐RF imaging radar

Large mineralogically distinct impact melt feature at Copernicus crater – Evidence for retention of compositional heterogeneity

Lunar Cartography: Progress in the 2000s and Prospects for the 2010s

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