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An altimeter is a critical instrument in planetary missions, for both safe operations and science activities. We present required specifications and link budget calculations for light detection and ranging (LIDAR) onboard the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) spacecraft. During the mission phase, this LIDAR will continuously measure the distance between the spacecraft and its target. The time-series distance provides important diagnostic information for safe spacecraft operations and important information for geomorphological studies. Because MMX is a sample return mission, its LIDAR must accommodate physical disturbances on the Martian satellite surface. This resulted in changes to the optical system design. Graphical abstract

In this study, we determined the alignment of the laser altimeter aboard Hayabusa2 with respect to the spacecraft using in-flight data. Since the laser altimeter data were used to estimate the trajectory of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, the pointing direction of the altimeter needed to be accurately determined. The boresight direction of the receiving telescope was estimated by comparing elevations of the laser altimeter data and camera images, and was confirmed by identifying prominent terrains of other datasets. The estimated boresight direction obtained by the laser link experiment in the winter of 2015, during the Earth’s gravity assist operation period, differed from the direction estimated in this study, which fell on another part of the candidate direction; this was not selected in a previous study. Assuming that the uncertainty of alignment determination of the laser altimeter boresight was 4.6 pixels in the camera image, the trajectory error of the spacecraft in the cross- and/or along-track directions was determined to be 0.4, 2.1, or 8.6 m for altitudes of 1, 5, or 20 km, respectively.

The precise orbit of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft with respect to asteroid Ryugu is dynamically determined using the data sets collected by the spacecraft’s onboard laser altimeter (LIght Detection And Ranging, LIDAR) and automated image tracking (AIT). The LIDAR range data and the AIT angular data play complementary roles because LIDAR is sensitive to the line-of-sight direction from Hayabusa2 to Ryugu, while the AIT is sensitive to the directions perpendicular to it. Using LIDAR and AIT, all six components of the initial state vector can be derived stably, which is difficult to achieve using only LIDAR or AIT. The coefficient of solar radiation pressure (SRP) of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft and standard gravitational parameter (GM) of Ryugu can also be estimated in the orbit determination process, by combining multiple orbit arcs at various altitudes. In the process of orbit determination, the Ryugu-fixed coordinate of the center of the LIDAR spot is determined by fitting the range data geometrically to the topography of Ryugu using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Such an approach is effective for realizing the rapid convergence of the solution. The root mean squares of the residuals of the observed minus computed values of the range and brightness-centroid direction of the image are 1.36 m and 0.0270°, respectively. The estimated values of the GM of Ryugu and a correction factor to our initial SRP model are 29.8 ± 0.3 m3/s2 and 1.13 ± 0.16, respectively.

A single aperture and hollow retroreflector [corner-cube mirror (CCM)] that in principle has no internal optical path difference is a key instrument for achieving lunar laser ranging one order or more accurate than the current level (~2 cm). We are developing CCM whose aperture is 20 cm with optimized dihedral angles. The 20-cm CCM yields two times peak height for returned laser pulse compared with Apollo 15’s retroreflector. Two investigations were conducted to confirm the feasibility of the 20-cm aperture CCM. The first is thermo-optical simulation and evaluation of the 20-cm CCM in the lunar thermal environment. Through this simulation, it has turned out for the first time that 20-cm aperture CCM made of single-crystal Si or “ultra-low expansion glass–ceramics” such as CCZ-EX® (OHARA Inc.) can be used for CCM with no thermal control, if the perfectly fixed point of CCM is limited to one. The second is annealing and shear loading experiments of single-crystal silicon (Si) samples. Through these experiments, high-temperature annealing from 100 to 1000 °C is confirmed to be effective for the enhancement of the adhesive strength between optically contacted surfaces with no optical damage in roughness and accuracy, indicating that this annealing process would enhance the rigidity of CCM fabricated by the optically contacted plates.

The distribution of two-dimensional velocity aberration is off-centered by 5 to 6 microradians in lunar laser ranging, due to the stable measurement geometry in the motion of the Earth and the Moon. The optical responses of hollow-type retroreflectors are investigated through numerical simulations, especially focusing on large-size, single-reflector targets that can ultimately minimize the systematic error in future lunar laser ranging. An asymmetric dihedral angle offset, i.e. setting unequal angles between the three back faces, is found to be effective for retroreflectors that are larger than 100 mm in diameter. Our numerical simulation results reveal that the optimized return energy increases approximately 3.5 times more than symmetric dihedral angle cases, and the optimized dihedral angle offsets are 0.65–0.8 arcseconds for one angle, and zeroes for the other two angles.

Both the Chang’E-1 and SELenological and ENgineering Explorer (SELENE) lunar missions, launched in 2007, provide an opportunity for significant advances in lunar science. In particular, both orbiters provide refined lunar topography models with unprecedented finer resolution and improved accuracy, especially for the far side and the polar areas of the Moon where fewer valid measurements have been available to date. An evaluation of the derived topography models is essential for the improved interpretation of selenophysics, including a knowledge of the interior of the Moon. This study provides both external and internal accuracy assessments for the derived topographic models (note that different data sets are used, albeit independent). The external comparison, which consists of comparing the topographic models with landmarks established with lunar laser ranging and radio tracking, yields an accuracy estimate of 157 m for the Change’E-1 model and 58 m for the SELENE model (150 m and 55 m if the newly recovered Lunakhod-1 site is included). The internal comparison, consisting of crossover analysis of the altimeter data after the removal of once-per-orbital-revolution errors, yields an accuracy estimate of 206 m and 68 m, respectively. These comparisons allow the establishment of conservative estimates of accuracy of 200 m and 70 m for the Chang’E-1 and SELENE models, respectively. Given the conservative estimates on the accuracy, both models yield significant improvement by factors of 2.5 and 8, respectively, when compared with a contemporary lunar topography model, i.e., the Unified Lunar Control Network 2005 (ULCN2005).