Uploaded April 2012 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Lunar rotation and surface flyby using LIDAR data from Clementine (with inset map of the flyby route)
Clementine was a joint project between the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization and NASA. The objective of the mission was to test sensors and spacecraft components under extended exposure to the space environment and to make scientific observations of the Moon and the near-Earth asteroid 1620 Geographos. Clementine was launched on 25 January 1994 at 16:34 UTC (12:34 PM EDT) from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Titan II G rocket. After two Earth flybys, lunar insertion was achieved on February 21. Lunar mapping took place over approximately two months, in two parts. The first part consisted of a 5 hour elliptical polar orbit with a perilune of about 400 km at 28 degrees S latitude. After one month of mapping the orbit was rotated to a perilune of 29 degrees N latitude, where it remained for one more month. This allowed global imaging as well as altimetry coverage from 60 degrees S to 60 degrees N.
Animation Number: 79
Completed: 1995-06-09
Animator: Cindy Starr (GST) (Lead)
Scientists: David Smith (NASA/GSFC)
Maria Zuber (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Frank Lemoine (NASA/GSFC)
Gregory Neumann (Johns Hopkins University)
Platform/Sensor/Data Set: Clementine/LIDAR/Lunar topography (1994/02/26-1994/05/05)
Series: Clementine
Video: SVS1995-0002 *
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio
Lunar rotation and surface flyby using LIDAR data from Clementine (with inset map of the flyby route)
Clementine was a joint project between the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization and NASA. The objective of the mission was to test sensors and spacecraft components under extended exposure to the space environment and to make scientific observations of the Moon and the near-Earth asteroid 1620 Geographos. Clementine was launched on 25 January 1994 at 16:34 UTC (12:34 PM EDT) from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Titan II G rocket. After two Earth flybys, lunar insertion was achieved on February 21. Lunar mapping took place over approximately two months, in two parts. The first part consisted of a 5 hour elliptical polar orbit with a perilune of about 400 km at 28 degrees S latitude. After one month of mapping the orbit was rotated to a perilune of 29 degrees N latitude, where it remained for one more month. This allowed global imaging as well as altimetry coverage from 60 degrees S to 60 degrees N.
Animation Number: 79
Completed: 1995-06-09
Animator: Cindy Starr (GST) (Lead)
Scientists: David Smith (NASA/GSFC)
Maria Zuber (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Frank Lemoine (NASA/GSFC)
Gregory Neumann (Johns Hopkins University)
Platform/Sensor/Data Set: Clementine/LIDAR/Lunar topography (1994/02/26-1994/05/05)
Series: Clementine
Video: SVS1995-0002 *
Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio
