Abstract We present new high-resolution topographic models of 4 high-priority lunar south pole landing sites based exclusively on the laser altimetry data acquired by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. By iteratively adjusting the LOLA tracks to the LOLA-based digital elevation model (LDEM) in a self-consistent fashion, we reduce the orbital geolocation errors by over a factor of 10 such that the new ground track geolocation uncertainty is ~10–20 ​cm horizontally and ~2–4 ​cm vertically over each 16 ​× ​16 km region. These new and improved 5 ​m/pix LDEMs will be useful to constrain higher-resolution topographic models derived from imagery, which are not as well controlled geodetically and which can be hindered by shadows. We developed a method to estimate surface height uncertainty in the new LDEMs, which accounts for the reduced orbital errors and interpolation errors by assuming a fractal behavior for the short-scale topography. The LDEM surface height and slope uncertainties have typical RMS values of ~0.30–0.50 ​m and ~1.5–2.5°, respectively. Finally, we examine how height uncertainties propagate to variations in horizon elevation and thus the predicted illumination conditions at these polar latitudes, and we show how this error characterization can inform landing site studies.

中文翻译：

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改进的南极着陆点 LOLA 高程图：误差估计及其对光照条件的影响

摘要 我们展示了 4 个高优先级月球南极着陆点的新高分辨率地形模型，这些模型完全基于月球勘测轨道飞行器上的月球轨道飞行器激光高度计 (LOLA) 获取的激光高度测量数据。通过以自洽的方式将 LOLA 轨道迭代调整为基于 LOLA 的数字高程模型 (LDEM)，我们将轨道地理定位误差降低了 10 倍以上，这样新的地面轨道地理定位不确定性约为 10-20在每个 16 × 16 公里的区域内水平增加约 2-4 厘米。这些新的和改进的 5 m/pix LDEM 将有助于约束从图像中获得的更高分辨率的地形模型，这些模型在大地测量方面没有得到很好的控制，并且可能会受到阴影的阻碍。我们开发了一种方法来估计新 LDEM 中的表面高度不确定性，它通过假设短尺度地形的分形行为来解释减少的轨道误差和插值误差。LDEM 表面高度和坡度不确定性的典型 RMS 值分别为 ~0.30–0.50 m 和 ~1.5–2.5°。最后，我们研究了高度不确定性如何传播到地平线高度的变化以及这些极地纬度的预测照明条件，并展示了这种误差表征如何为着陆点研究提供信息。