The NEAR Laser Rangefinder

The NEAR Laser Rangefinder (NLR)

The NEAR Laser Rangefinder (NLR) used on NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission contains a laser and a detector that measures the delay time between firing of a laser pulse and its return reflection from the surface. The instrument will fire one time for every second. Once the spacecraft is in orbit around Eros it will make numerous measurements providing detailed topography of the surface. Topographic profiles of major features such as craters and grooves will be made.

The Laser Rangefinder will serve as one of the tools to provide information necessary to calculate a rough estimate of the density of Eros. The volume of Eros will be determined from pictures provided by the Laser Rangefinder. Other information needed for this computation is the mass of Eros determined by the orbital period and distance of the orbit obtained from the radio science experiment. Images from MSI and the attitude data from the star camera will provide information to help with the location of Eros. Once estimates of the mass and volume of Eros are calculated, the estimate of the density will follow.

Topography refers to the shape of the surface of a specific body being measured which possesses various physical features such as plains and plateaus. For example, the Earth has three main types of physical features: mountains, plains, and plateaus.

Members of the NEAR Project are testing the Laser Rangefinder.

Lesson Plan on Topographic Maps

Laser Rangefinder Overview on NEAR Web Server

Back to click-on spacecraft exploration

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Contact Steve Bowser (slbowser@umd5.umd.edu) or
Joy Maloney (jmaloney@umd5.umd.edu) for further information.