Lunar Gravity and Rotation Measurements by Japanese Lunar Landing Missions

Sho SASAKI; Hideo HANADA; Hirotomo NODA; Fuyuhiko KIKUCHI; Hiroshi ARAKI; Koji MATSUMOTO; Hiroo KUNIMORI; Takahiro IWATA; Sander GOOSSENS; Toshimichi OTSUBO; Ken-ichi FUNAZAKI

doi:10.2322/tastj.10.Tk_33

k) Solar System Exploration and Scientific Research

Lunar Gravity and Rotation Measurements by Japanese Lunar Landing Missions

Sho SASAKI, Hideo HANADA, Hirotomo NODA, Fuyuhiko KIKUCHI, Hiroshi ARAKI, Koji MATSUMOTO, Hiroo KUNIMORI, Takahiro IWATA, Sander GOOSSENS, Toshimichi OTSUBO, Ken-ichi FUNAZAKI

Author information

Sho SASAKI
RISE Project, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Hideo HANADA
RISE Project, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Hirotomo NODA
RISE Project, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Fuyuhiko KIKUCHI
RISE Project, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Hiroshi ARAKI
RISE Project, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Koji MATSUMOTO
RISE Project, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Hiroo KUNIMORI
The National Institute of Communication and Technology
Takahiro IWATA
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA
Sander GOOSSENS
RISE Project, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Toshimichi OTSUBO
Faculty of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University
Ken-ichi FUNAZAKI
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iwate University

Keywords: Tidal Love Number, Lunar Libration, Lunar Laser Ranging, VLBI, ILOM

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2012 Volume 10 Issue ists28 Pages Tk_33-Tk_36

DOI https://doi.org/10.2322/tastj.10.Tk_33

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Abstract

Measurements of lunar gravity and rotation are important because they provide information of the physical state of the lunar interior. Previously only passive LLR (Lunar Laser Ranging) using CCR (corner cube reflectors) has been applied for the detailed study of lunar librations, rotation variability. As for candidate instruments for SELENE-2 (forthcoming lunar landing mission by JAXA) and future lunar missions, we propose VLBI (inverse-VLBI and differential VLBI) for gravity measurement to constrain tidal Love number, LLR and ILOM (In-situ Lunar Orientation Measurement) for libration measurements.

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