Abstract
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) is a spacecraft-to-spacecraft tracking mission that was developed to map the structure of the lunar interior by producing a detailed map of the gravity field. The resulting model of the interior will be used to address outstanding questions regarding the Moon’s thermal evolution, and will be applicable more generally to the evolution of all terrestrial planets. Each GRAIL orbiter contains a Lunar Gravity Ranging System instrument that conducts dual-one-way ranging measurements to measure precisely the relative motion between them, which in turn are used to develop the lunar gravity field map. Each orbiter also carries an Education/Public Outreach payload, Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle-School Students (MoonKAM), in which middle school students target images of the Moon for subsequent classroom analysis. Subsequent to a successful launch on September 10, 2011, the twin GRAIL orbiters embarked on independent trajectories on a 3.5-month-long cruise to the Moon via the EL-1 Lagrange point. The spacecraft were inserted into polar orbits on December 31, 2011 and January 1, 2012. After a succession of 19 maneuvers the two orbiters settled into precision formation to begin science operations in March 1, 2012 with an average altitude of 55 km. The Primary Mission, which consisted of three 27.3-day mapping cycles, was successfully completed in June 2012. The extended mission will permit a second three-month mapping phase at an average altitude of 23 km. This paper provides an overview of the mission: science objectives and measurements, spacecraft and instruments, mission development and design, and data flow and data products.
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Acknowledgements
The GRAIL mission is supported by NASA’s Discovery Program and is performed under contract to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Part of this work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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Appendix
Appendix
Acronyms and Abbreviations | |
|---|---|
CBE | Current Best Estimate |
CCAFS | Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
C&DH | Command & Data Handling |
CM | Center of Mass |
DSN | Deep Space Network |
ECM | Eccentricity Correction Maneuver |
E/PO | Education and Public Outreach |
GB | Gigabytes |
GDS | Ground Data System |
GPA | Gravity Processing Assembly |
GR-A | GRAIL-A Spacecraft (Ebb) |
GR-B | GRAIL-B Spacecraft (Flow) |
GRACE | Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment |
GRAIL | Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory |
GSFC | Goddard Space Flight Center |
ITAR | International Traffic in Arms Regulations |
JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
KBR | Ka-Band Ranging |
LGRS | Lunar Gravity Ranging System |
LMSSC | Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (Denver) |
LOI | Lunar Orbit Insertion |
LOLA | Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter |
LOS | Line of Sight |
LRO | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter |
mascon | Mass Concentration |
mGal | milliGal (where 1 Gal = 0.01 m s−2) |
MIT | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
MoonKAM | Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students |
MOC | Mission Operations Center |
MOS | Mission Operations System |
MGSS | Multi-mission Ground System Services |
MMDOM | Multimission Distributed Object Manager |
MPST | Mission Planning and Sequence Team |
MWA | Microwave Assembly |
NAIF | Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility |
NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
OPR | Orbital Period Reduction |
OTM | Orbit Trim Maneuver |
PDS | Planetary Data System |
PM | Primary Mission |
RSB | Radio Science Beacon |
SCT | Spacecraft Team |
SDS | Science Data System |
SIS | Software Interface Specification |
SRS | Sally Ride Science |
TCM | Trajectory Correction Maneuver |
TDS | Telemetry Delivery System |
TLC | Trans-Lunar Cruise |
TSF | Transition to Science Formation |
TSM | Transition to Science Maneuver |
TTS | Time Transfer System |
USO | Ultra-stable Oscillator |
XM | Extended Mission |
XSS-11 | Experimental Satellite System 11 |
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Zuber, M.T., Smith, D.E., Lehman, D.H. et al. Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL): Mapping the Lunar Interior from Crust to Core. Space Sci Rev 178, 3–24 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-012-9952-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-012-9952-7