The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) has been selected for flight on board the European Space Agency's BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO). The experiment is intended to be Europe's first planetary laser altimeter system. Although the proposed system has similarities to the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) currently flying on board NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury, the specific orbit and construction of the MPO force the use of novel concepts for BELA. Furthermore, the base-lined range-finding approach is novel. In this paper, we describe the BELA system and show preliminary results from some prototype testing. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The BepiColombo laser altimeter (BELA): Concept and baseline design / N. A., Thomas; T. B., Spohn; J. P. C., Barriot; W. A., Benz; G. D., Beutler; U. E., Christensen; V. F., Dehant; C. G., Fallnich; D. H., Giardini; O. I., Groussin; K. A., Gunderson; E. B., Hauber; M. E., Hilchenbach; Iess, Luciano; L. J., Lamy; P. K., Lara; L. M. L., Lognonne; P. M., Lopez Moreno; J. J. L., Michaelis; H. B., Oberst; J. B., Resendes; D. N., Reynaud; J. L. K., Rodrigo; R. L., Sasaki; S. O., Seiferlin; K. A., Wieczorek; M. M., Whitby. - In: PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE. - ISSN 0032-0633. - 55:10(2007), pp. 1398-1413. [10.1016/j.pss.2007.03.003]
The BepiColombo laser altimeter (BELA): Concept and baseline design
IESS, Luciano;
2007
Abstract
The BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) has been selected for flight on board the European Space Agency's BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO). The experiment is intended to be Europe's first planetary laser altimeter system. Although the proposed system has similarities to the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) currently flying on board NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury, the specific orbit and construction of the MPO force the use of novel concepts for BELA. Furthermore, the base-lined range-finding approach is novel. In this paper, we describe the BELA system and show preliminary results from some prototype testing. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
