Lunar gravitational models are generated using sets of point mass potentials (mascons) fit to the GRGM1200A representation derived from GRAIL mission data. Point mass ensembles allow for simple modeling of a gravity potential and its partial derivatives. The new point mascon models are intended to be low- to medium-resolution replacements for spherical harmonics models in mission planning applications or onboard flight software. The design space of how to parameterize the mascons is explored. The chosen configuration uses equally weighted point mass potentials and requires the successive solutions to thousands of nonlinear optimization problems that adjust the mascon locations. A database of models that vary in resolution is generated and disseminated as supplementary material, with the highest-fidelity model demonstrating equivalent accuracy and memory footprint to a spherical harmonics truncation. Gravitational acceleration and gravity gradient evaluation runtimes are roughly two to eight times faster for the new mascon models when compared with spherical harmonics models with equivalent error, depending on the model fidelity and the computational environment.
Point Mascon Global Lunar Gravity Models
Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics ; 45 , 5 ; 815-829
2021-12-29
15 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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