Photogrammetric analysis of Clementine multi-look angle images obtained near Mare Orientale

Abstract

We derived a local control point network and a DTM (Digital Terrain Model) from Clementine UVVIS multi-look angle images that where obtained on the 30th April 1994, covering a small region of the Lunar Orientale Basin (-19.5 deg S to -15 deg S and 85.6 deg W to 87.6 deg W). The nominal camera pointing and spacecraft trajectory data were photogrammetrically adjusted, a procedure which was found to improve estimates of the 41 control point coordinates significantly to an internally consistent accuracy of 30 m in the horizontal and 50 m in the height direction. The terrain model correlates well with features identified in the image data, two cratersm colcanic constructs, and the dark lava-filled Lacus Veris, located in a topographic depression. The terrain model indicates a steep drop on elevation by 2000 m within a range of only 6-8 km towards the center of Orientale. Further studies of the lunar topography in this particular region using Clementine stereo data seem well warranted and feasible.