LRO Mini-RF Bistatic Experiment Data Record (BSEDR)

BSEDR – Bistatic Experiment Data Record

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

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

The Mini-RF (MRFLRO) Bistatic Experiment Data Record (BSEDR) data product represents the real and imaginary portions of the horizontal and vertical polarized backscattered signal 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.

The BSEDR products are bistatic radar images in range and azimuth orientation. The range and azimuth resolution can vary on a collect-by-collect basis and are not always square. If non-square the range spacing is always larger than the azimuth spacing. An example of a typical range spacing is on the order of 40 meters, and a typical azimuth spacing can be on the order of 2 meters. Pixels are in floating point format and indicated image intensity values for the real and imaginary portions of the horizontal and vertical polarized received signal. EDRs are produced by data returned by the Mini-RF instrument in 3-bit format, along with spacecraft ephemeris and instrument timing information that characterize the acquired data.

MRFLRO BSEDR products have the following file names:

LST_nnnnn_0tt_XIU_aahddd_Vz.IMG (with detached PDS label)

where:

L = LRO

S = S-band

T = bistatic product

nnnnn = orbit number

0 = EDR

tt = product type

HR = horizontal real

VR = vertical real

HI = horizontal imaginary

VI = vertical imaginary

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, BSEDR products have the following product IDs:

LST_NNNNN_OTT_XIU_AAHDDD_VZ