Open AccessMars Orbiter Laser Altimeter: Experiment summary after the first year of global mapping of Mars
Author(s) -
Smith David E.,
Zuber Maria T.,
Frey Herbert V.,
Garvin James B.,
Head James W.,
Muhleman Duane O.,
Pettengill Gordon H.,
Phillips Roger J.,
Solomon Sean C.,
Zwally H. Jay,
Banerdt W. Bruce,
Duxbury Thomas C.,
Golombek Matthew P.,
Lemoine Frank G.,
Neumann Gregory A.,
Rowlands David D.,
Aharonson Oded,
Ford Peter G.,
Ivanov Anton B.,
Johnson Catherine L.,
McGovern Patrick J.,
Abshire James B.,
Afzal Robert S.,
Sun Xiaoli
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: planets
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2000je001364
Subject(s) - mars exploration program , altimeter , remote sensing , geology , geodetic datum , equator , martian surface , geodesy , ocean surface topography , martian , latitude , astrobiology , physics
The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), an instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, has measured the topography, surface roughness, and 1.064‐μm reflectivity of Mars and the heights of volatile and dust clouds. This paper discusses the function of the MOLA instrument and the acquisition, processing, and correction of observations to produce global data sets. The altimeter measurements have been converted to both gridded and spherical harmonic models for the topography and shape of Mars that have vertical and radial accuracies of ∼1 m with respect to the planet's center of mass. The current global topographic grid has a resolution of 1/64° in latitude × 1/32° in longitude (1×2 km 2 at the equator). Reconstruction of the locations of incident laser pulses on the Martian surface appears to be at the 100‐m spatial accuracy level and results in 2 orders of magnitude improvement in the global geodetic grid of Mars. Global maps of optical pulse width indicative of 100‐m‐scale surface roughness and 1.064‐μm reflectivity with an accuracy of 5% have also been obtained.