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Inflight Calibration of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Wide Angle Camera

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Abstract

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) has acquired more than 250,000 images of the illuminated lunar surface and over 190,000 observations of space and non-illuminated Moon since 1 January 2010. These images, along with images from the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) and other Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter instrument datasets are enabling new discoveries about the morphology, composition, and geologic/geochemical evolution of the Moon. Characterizing the inflight WAC system performance is crucial to scientific and exploration results. Pre-launch calibration of the WAC provided a baseline characterization that was critical for early targeting and analysis. Here we present an analysis of WAC performance from the inflight data. In the course of our analysis we compare and contrast with the pre-launch performance wherever possible and quantify the uncertainty related to various components of the calibration process. We document the absolute and relative radiometric calibration, point spread function, and scattered light sources and provide estimates of sources of uncertainty for spectral reflectance measurements of the Moon across a range of imaging conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Shane Thompson, Zack Bowles, and Robert Lanphear of the LRO Operations team at Arizona State University and the LRO Mission Operations team at Goddard Space Flight Center for their help with commanding experimental images for the calibration, Emerson Speyerer for helping with identifying monochrome images for investigating stray-light issues, and Kristen Paris for help with proof reading.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arizona State University, Interdisciplinary A., Room A120C, Tempe, AZ, 85287-3606, USA

    P. Mahanti, M. S. Robinson, A. K. Boyd, R. Stelling, H. Sato, S. E. Braden, E. Bowman-Cisneros & M. Tschimmel

  2. Space Instrument Calibration Consulting, 228 S Cherry Grove Ave, Annapolis, MD, 21401-4220, USA

    D. C. Humm

  3. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD, 20723, USA

    B. W. Denevi

  4. Malin Space Science Systems, P.O. Box 910148, San Diego, CA, 92191-0148, USA

    S. M. Brylow

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  1. P. Mahanti
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  2. D. C. Humm
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  3. M. S. Robinson
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  8. S. E. Braden
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  11. M. Tschimmel
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Correspondence to P. Mahanti.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

This paper is a Special Communication, related to the topical volume on ‘Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission’, Space Science Reviews, Volume 150, 2010, guest edited by R.R. Vondrak, J.W. Keller and C.T. Russell.

Appendix: Obtaining a Calibrated WAC Image

Appendix: Obtaining a Calibrated WAC Image

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Mahanti, P., Humm, D.C., Robinson, M.S. et al. Inflight Calibration of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Wide Angle Camera. Space Sci Rev 200, 393–430 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0197-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-015-0197-0

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