In-Flight Characterization of the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Instrument Pointing and Far-Field Pattern

Abstract: The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has collected nearly seven billion measurements of surface height on the Moon with an absolute accuracy of ~1 m and a precision of ~10 cm. Converting time-of-flight laser altimeter measurements to topographic elevations requires accurate knowledge of the laser pointing with respect to the spacecraft body-fixed coordinate system. To that end, we have utilized altimetric crossovers from LOLA, as well as bidir…