Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera ( LROC ) Instrument Overview

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC) and Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs) are on the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). M.S. Robinson ( ) · M. Tschimmel · S.J. Lawrence · B.W. Denevi · E. Bowman-Cisneros · P. Mahanti · T.N. Tran School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA e-mail: [email protected] S.M. Brylow · J. Zerr · M.A. Ravine · M.A. Caplinger · J.A. Schaffner · M.C. Malin Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA, USA D. Humm Space Instrument Calibration Consulting, Annapolis, MD, USA P.C. Thomas Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA A. Bartels National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA J. Anderson Astrogeology Branch, United States Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ, USA F.T. Ghaemi Tony Ghaemi Optical Engineering, San Diego, CA, USA E.M. Eliason · A.S. McEwen Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA E. Turtle Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, USA B.L. Jolliff Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA H. Hiesinger Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany 82 M.S. Robinson et al. The WAC is a 7-color push-frame camera (100 and 400 m/pixel visible and UV, respectively), while the two NACs are monochrome narrow-angle linescan imagers (0.5 m/pixel). The primary mission of LRO is to obtain measurements of the Moon that will enable future lunar human exploration. The overarching goals of the LROC investigation include landing site identification and certification, mapping of permanently polar shadowed and sunlit regions, meter-scale mapping of polar regions, global multispectral imaging, a global morphology base map, characterization of regolith properties, and determination of current impact hazards.