ABSTRACTThe Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) is one of six instruments on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) with the objectives to determine the global topography of the lunar surface at high resolution, measure landing site slopes and search for polar ices in shadowed regions. The LOLA laser transmitter is a passively q-switched cross-Porro resonator. The flight laser beryllium bench houses two oscillators (a primary oscillator and a cold spare). The two oscillators are designed to operate sequentially during the mission. The secondary laser will be turned on if the primary laser can no longer provide adequate scientific data products. All components used in the laser have space flight heritage. In this paper we will summarize the development effort of the LOLA laser including the material choice, design criteria and contamination control as applied to the flight laser build.
The transition from complex craters to multi-ring basins on the Moon: Quantitative geometric properties from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) data