Revisiting Apollo Laser Altimetry with Modern Lunar Gravity Models

ABSTRACT The manned lunar missions Apollo 15, 16, and 17 carried a laser altimeter for determination of lunar topography beneath the ground track. Errors in altimetry are primarily due to limitations in orbit propagation due to incomplete, low-resolution gravity models. Systematic biases reflecting predictable orbit errors may present in altimetry data. This research examines if biases in contemporary Apollo altimetry data may be addressed by simply repropagating Apollo state vectors with modern gravity models. Keywords: Laser Altimetry, Lunar Gravity Models, Orbit Determination, Topography.