Hires oblique views of Apollo landing sites from lunar orbit, Technically possible? |
Hires oblique views of Apollo landing sites from lunar orbit, Technically possible? |
Jul 30 2008, 07:45 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 20-January 07 From: Milano, ITALY Member No.: 1633 |
Given the emotional interest in closeup views of Apollo landing sites, and the debate on the preservation of historical lunar sites, I was wondering whether technological advances may reduce the need for rovers or other vehicles coming too close to the sites to get such views.
Given the resolving power of LRO's LROC camera, I expect technology to improve and provide even better resolution in a relatively short time. With such powerful cameras, would it be possible to get oblique views of Apollo sites from lunar orbit approximating the ones from a rover or a vehicle close to the sites? What are the major challenges? Spacecraft attitude control and camera pointing? Horizon curvature? Mountains, local relief and other obstacles along the line of sight? This would not address, however, the need to come close for engineering studies or other purposes. Paolo Amoroso -------------------- Avventure Planetarie - Blog sulla comunicazione e divulgazione scientifica
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Jul 31 2008, 12:51 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 753 Joined: 23-October 04 From: Greensboro, NC USA Member No.: 103 |
... Given the resolving power of LRO's LROC camera, I expect technology to improve and provide even better resolution in a relatively short time. With such powerful cameras, would it be possible to get oblique views of Apollo sites from lunar orbit approximating the ones from a rover or a vehicle close to the sites? What are the major challenges? Spacecraft attitude control and camera pointing? Horizon curvature? Mountains, local relief and other obstacles along the line of sight? I may have missed it in scanning the LRO thread, but has anyone done a simulated view of what an Apollo landing site would theoretically look like with LRO's highest-resolution camera, like Doug did for the Mars landers as potentially seen from MRO and MGS? -------------------- Jonathan Ward
Manning the LCC at http://www.apollolaunchcontrol.com |
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Jul 31 2008, 01:02 AM
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
I may have missed it in scanning the LRO thread, but has anyone done a simulated view of what an Apollo landing site would theoretically look like with LRO's highest-resolution camera, like Doug did for the Mars landers as potentially seen from MRO and MGS? I would think we probably already have really good views from the Lunar Orbiters and the Apollo missions, sans the landers, so this should make for some great before/after. -------------------- |
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Jul 31 2008, 01:28 AM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8783 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
What are the major challenges? Spacecraft attitude control and camera pointing? Horizon curvature? Mountains, local relief and other obstacles along the line of sight? Don't forget relative velocity to the lunar surface. With no effective atmosphere, you can go pretty low. That just might be the prime constraint/tradeoff on surface resolution: the higher you are, the slower you go, but you need bigger optics. If you go low, you need either a REALLY fast imaging system or an equally fast scan platform of some sort (brr...moving parts!), or fast-response attitude control & lots of fuel. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jul 31 2008, 10:18 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
If LRO can get really good matched image pairs of landing sites at different view angles and with matching illuminations (eg almost exactly one month apart...), the stereo data can be reprojected for any view angle, like Selene data.
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Jul 31 2008, 10:25 AM
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
To get an oblique angle, you end up much further away than your normal orbital altitude. 90k instead of 30k for example. So LRO's res of 50cm/pixel would drop to 1.5m/pixel.
Doug |
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Jul 31 2008, 10:29 AM
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#7
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
Either that, or you drop periapsis to shorten the slant-range for a given look angle...
"oops. I thought we'd miss that mountain". Also, image smear gets to be a problem, and it gets really weird for non-framing cameras. |
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Jul 31 2008, 09:13 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 89 Joined: 27-August 05 From: Eccentric Mars orbit Member No.: 477 |
Don't forget relative velocity to the lunar surface. With no effective atmosphere, you can go pretty low. That just might be the prime constraint/tradeoff on surface resolution: the higher you are, the slower you go, but you need bigger optics. If you go low, you need either a REALLY fast imaging system or an equally fast scan platform of some sort (brr...moving parts!), or fast-response attitude control & lots of fuel. Got those moving parts blues? Try new Time Domain IntegrationTM! That's right, with TDITM, for the cost of just a bit of extra logic on the clock lines, you can move images anywhere on your CCD electronically, while you continue to expose! Watch in amazement as blurry pixels disappear!. Motion compensation is a snap with new TDITM. Side effects include extra electronics, slight extra operations complication, calibration difficulties, and dry mouth. Ask your system engineer if TDITM is right for you. TDITM: All the cool kids are doing it. From the makers of the PushbroomTM CCD. |
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Jul 31 2008, 09:43 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2492 Joined: 15-January 05 From: center Italy Member No.: 150 |
lol
-------------------- I always think before posting! - Marco -
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Jul 31 2008, 09:54 PM
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#10
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
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