Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Surface properties of the moon, venus and small bodies from radar observations
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Campbell, Donald B. |
| Copyright Year | 1997 |
| Description | Studies of the moon during the period of the grant revolved around the issues of the possible presence of ice at the lunar poles and the determination of the electrical properties of the maria regoliths. The search for ice at the poles was conducted using measurements of the radar backscatter cross sections and circular polarization ratios measured from 125 m resolution Arecibo radar imagery at 13 cm wavelength obtained by Nicholas Stacy. No clear indication of the presence of ice was found in areas thought to be in permanent shadow from solar radiation. Then Cornell graduate student Greg Black modeled the radar backscattering behavior of the icy Galilean satellites using three wavelength measurements of their radar backscattering properties obtained with the Arecibo and Goldstone radars. The radar scattering properties of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto are unlike those of any other object observed with planetary radars. They are strongly backscattering with specific radar cross sections that can exceed unity. Polarization ratios are also high, approx. 1.5, indicative of multiple scattering, and the echos follow a diffuse scattering law at all incident angles with no indication of quasi-specular reflections. 3) Most of our effort on small bodies went into developing and investigating methods for long baseline radar synthesis imaging of near-earth asteroids and comets. At X-band, the width of the synthesized beam of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is approximately 15 m at 0.03AU, a typical close approach distance for near-earth asteroids. A small amount of work was done analyzing Venus data from Arecibo and the Magellan mission. |
| File Size | 19521300 |
| Page Count | 19 |
| File Format | |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19980010423 |
| Archival Resource Key | ark:/13960/t8gf5r56z |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 1997-01-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Lunar And Planetary Exploration Comets Circular Polarization Electrical Properties Moon Radar Cross Sections Superhigh Frequencies Imaging Techniques Radar Tracking Ice Very Long Baseline Array Vlba Radar Imagery Venus Planet Surface Properties Galilean Satellites Solar Radiation Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Technical Report |
