Deriving Mercury Geodetic Parameters With Altimetric Crossovers From the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA)
Name
JGR Planets - 2021 - Bertone - Deriving Mercury Geodetic Parameters With Altimetric Crossovers From the Mercury Laser.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.74 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
766383f240fc8595a087aef3b5e83ce9
Author(s)
Bertone, S
Mazarico, E
Barker, MK
Goossens, S
Sabaka, TJ
Neumann, GA
Smith, DE
Date Issued
March 12, 2021
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Bertone, S., Mazarico, E., Barker, M. K., Goossens, S., Sabaka, T. J., Neumann, G. A., & Smith, D. E. (2021). Deriving Mercury geodetic parameters with altimetric crossovers from the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA). Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 126, e2020JE006683.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Based on the previous applications of laser altimetry to planetary geodesy at GSFC, we use the recently developed PyXover software package to analyze altimetric crossovers from the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA). Using PyXover, we place new constraints on Mercury's geodetic parameters via least squares minimization of crossover discrepancies. We simultaneously solve for orbital corrections for each MLA ground track, for the geodetic parameters of the International Astronomical Union-recommended orientation model for Mercury (pole right-ascension and declination coordinates, prime meridian rotation rate, and librations), and for the Mercury's Love number h2. We calibrate the formal errors of our solution based on closed-loop simulations and on the level of robustness against a priori values, data selection, and parametrization. Our solution of the Mercury's rotational parameters is consistent with published values. In particular, our new estimate for the orientation of the pole places Mercury in a Cassini state, with an obliquity ϵ = 2.031 ± 0.03 arcmin compatible with previous “surface” related measurements. Moreover, we provide a first data-based estimate of the Love number h2 = 1.55 ± 0.65. The latter is consistent with expectations from models of Mercury's interior, although its precision does not enable their refinement.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020je006683
