Clementine

Clementine (Nozette et al., 1994; McEwen and Robinson, 1997) was a 1994 joint NASA/Department of Defense (DoD) mission to the Moon. Clementine carried four cameras, one with a laser-ranging system. The cameras included an ultraviolet-visual (UVVIS) camera, a long wavelength infrared (LWIR) camera, a Laser Image Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) high-resolution (HiRes) camera, and a near-infrared (NIR) camera. The spacecraft also had two star tracker cameras (STC), used mainly for altitude determination but also as wide-field cameras for various scientific and operational purposes.

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The following table provides basic information about all the Clementine cameras.

Clementine instrument parameters (Nozette et al., 1994)

	UVVIS	Star tracker	NIR	LWIR	HiRes	LIDAR receiver*	LIDAR transmitter**
Focal plane array	Thomson CCD	Thomson CCD	Amber InSb	Amber HgCdTe	Intensified CCD	SiAPD
Pixel format	384 x 228	384 x 576	256 x 256	128 x 128	384 x 288	Single Cell
Pixel size (mm)	23 x 23	23 x 23	38 x 38	50 x 50	23 x 23	0.5 mm2
Clear aperture (mm)	46	14	29	131	131	Shared with HiRes	38
Focal length (mm)	90	17.5	96	350	1250	Shared with HiRes	99
Array field of view (degrees) ***	5.6 x 4.2	28 x 43	5.6 x 5.6	1.0 X 1.0	0.4 x 0.3	0.057
Bandpass filters (mm)	0.415± 0.020 0.750±0.005 0.900±0.015 0.950±0.015 1.000±0.015 0.4 to 0.95	0.4 to 1.1	1.1± 0.03 1.25± 0.03 1.5± 0.03 2.00 ± 0.03 2.60±0.03 2.78 ± 0.06	8.0 to 9.5	0.415± 0.020 0.560± 0.005 0.650± 0.005 0.750±0.010 0.4 to 0.8	0.4 to 1.1	1.064 and 0.532
Integration times (ms)	0.2 to 773	0.2 to 773	11, 33, 57, 95	0.144, 1.15, 2.30, 4.61	0.2 to 773
Gains	150, 350, and 1000 e/bit	75, 150, and 350 e/bit	0.5 to 36x	0.5 to 36x	150, 350, and 1000 e/bit	100x
Offsets (bits)	5	5	8	8	5	None
Power (W)	4.5	4.5	11.0	13.0	9.5	Housed in HiRes	6.8 at 1 Hz; 2.6 quiescent
Weight (g)	410	290	1920	2100	1120	Housed in HiRes	1250

* The A/D resolution of the LIDAR receiver was 14 bits (40 m per bit), whereas all of the cameras had a resolution of 8 bits.

** The laser used for the LIDAR was an Nd-YAG that produced a pulse of width <10 ns. At a wavelength of 1.064 mm, it produced a pulse with an energy of 171 mJ and a divergence of <500 mrad. At a wavelength of 0.532 mm, it produced a 9-mJ pulse with a 4-mrad divergence.

*** see Figure 1 (Nozette et al., 1994).

Figure 1 – Fields of view and alignment of the UVVIS, NIR, LWIR, and HiRes cameras. Small black squares show the position of the initial pixels.

For over two months, Clementine mapped the 38 million square kilometers of the Moon, producing the first multispectral global digital map of the Moon, the first global topographic map, and contributing several other important scientific discoveries, including the possibility of ice at the lunar South Pole. Clementine was the first mission known to conduct an in-flight autonomous operations experiment (Nozette et al., 1994; Sorensen and Spudis, 2005). More information about the mission can be found in the following documents:

• Nozette, S., P. Rustan, L.P. Pleasance, D.M. Horan, P. Regeon, E.M. Shoemaker, P.D. Spudis, C.H. Acton, D.N. Baker, J.E. Blamont, B.J. Buratti, M.P. Corson, M.E. Davies, T.C. Duxbury, E.M. Eliason, B.M. Jakosky, J.F. Kordas, I.T. Lewis, C.L. Lichtenberg, P.G. Lucey, E. Malaret, M.A. Massie, J.H. Resnick, C.J. Rollins, H.S. Park, A.S. McEwen, R.E. Priest, C.M. Pieters, R.A. Reisse, M.S. Robinson, R.A. Simpson, D.E. Smith, T.C. Sorenson, R.W. Vorder Bruegge, and M.T Zuber (1994), The Clementine Mission to the Moon: Scientific Overview: Science Vol. 266, pp. 1835-1839.

• McEwen, A.S., M. Robinson (1997), Mapping of the Moon by Clementine: Adv. Space Research, Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 1523-1533.

• Sorensen T.C. and P.D. Spudis (2005), The Clementine Mission – A 10-year perspective: J. Earth System Sci. Vol. 114, 6, pp. 645-668.