LRO Mini-RF Bistatic Derived Data Record (BSDDR)

BSDDR – Bistatic Derived Data Record

PDS Data Set ID: LRO-L-MRFLRO-2/3/5-BISTATIC-V2.0

For more information about Bistatic DDR products, see the Bistatic Data Set Description.

The Mini-RF (MRFLRO) Bistatic Deduced Data Record (BSDDR) data product contains 6-bands of data that provide geometric information at the pixel level of the latitude, longitude, bistatic angle, incidence angle, emission angle, and range to the lunar surface (assuming the moon is a sphere of radius 1734.4 km) of the data acquired as bistatic radar data using the Arecibo Radar Observatory as a transmitter and the Mini-RF instrument on LRO as a receiver.

Since December 26, 2010, the Mini-RF instrument has not transmitted the RF energy required to create radar images of the lunar surface. Instead, Arecibo transmits a lefthand circular polarized (LHCP) signal at S-band wavelength that is reflected off the lunar surface and received in orthogonal linear polarization at Mini-RF. The purpose of these measurements is to explore the radar backscatter characteristics as a function of bistatic angle, the angle between the transmitted and received angles. By using both Arecibo and Mini-RF, we have the capability to collect data of the Moon with bistatic angles other than zero.

MRFLRO BSDDR products have the following file names:

LST_nnnnn_1DD_XIU_aahddd_Vz.IMG (with detached PDS label)

where:

L = LRO

S = S-band

T = bistatic product

nnnnn = orbit number

1 = DDR

DD = derived data

X = no map projection

I = pixel resolution of 118 m/pixel which is close to the 100 m/pixel resolution of the bistatic images

U = data type of regular real number

aa = lunar latitude of the center of the bistatic image, range 0 to 90 degrees

h = hemisphere of the latitude, N for northern latitude or S for southern latitude

ddd = lunar longitude of the center of the bistatic image, range 0 to 359 degrees

z = product version number

In ODE, BSDDR products have the following product IDs:

LST_NNNNN_1DD_XIU_AAHDDD_VZ