APOLLO Normal Points

APOLLO data also available at the NASA CDDIS Archive

Format is new CRD (consolidated range data), updated more regularly than this site. Subdirectories apollo11, apollo14, apollo15, luna17, luna21.

Invitation for Collaboration

APOLLO scientists are eager to participate in science endeavors that can benefit from APOLLO data. We believe that it is through open collaboration that the best scientific progress is made. Communication between analysis efforts and data collection efforts will almost certainly benefit both: anomalous signals may be traceable to instrumentation artifacts if the data collection effort is suitably informed; and observing suggestions arising from the analysis may translate to improved analysis capability.

We ask that APOLLO members be invited to participate in derivative science, one goal being co-authorship on science papers. APOLLO members may decline the invitation to co-author results if we have little to contribute, but we nonetheless ask for the courtesy of invitation to be extended. The data are available without this requirement.

Normal Point Versions

APOLLO data reduction is a subtle task, dealing with multi-photon returns and associated biases, an array detector, variable spatial illumination, end other issues. Therefore, the normal points are periodically upgraded based on new reduction techniques. On this page, we will keep a running archive of old reduction products. Typically, the file at the top of the list is the most relevant, most up-to-date set.

Normal Point Format

We are currently using a very old normal point format that is favored by JPL. We intend to switch to the latest ILRS format in the near future, and archive our points on their web site.

A typical normal point appears as follows:

512008 330123950000000026170710379889370610207 317312B 72439 -5134 5320A 250A

The fields are:

field	width	represents	this example	notes
51	2	?	51
2008	4	year	2008	time is UTC launch time
3	2	Month	March
30	2	Day	30th
12	2	Hour	12 h
39	2	Monute	39 m
500000000	9	10-7seconds	50.0000000 s
26170710379889	14	round trip time, 10-13 seconds	2.6170710379889 s	measured round trip
3	1	reflector number	Apollo 15 (#3)	0=A11; 1=L1; 2=A14; 3=A15; 4=L2
70610	5	station ID	Apache Point
207	3	# photons in NP	207 photons	saturates at 999
317	6	uncert in 0.1 ps	31.7 ps
312	3	10×SNR	31.2	saturates at 99.9
B	1	data quality grade	B	A, B, C, D
72439	6	pressure, 0.01 mbar	724.39 mbar
-51	4	temperature, 0.1°C	-5.1°C
34	2	% relative humidity	34%
5320	5	wavelength, angstroms	5320 angstrom
A	1	?	A
250	4	NP duration, sec	250 sec
A	1	?	A

Normal Point batches (text files)

2020 Dec. 27:
Group f (355 NPs, 2019-08-23 to 2020-12-27; replaced 2022.01.05)
notes

2016 Sept. 12:
Group e complete (915 NPs, 2016-09-12 to 2019-08-18; replaced 2022.01.05)
notes

2016 July 25:
Group d complete (760 NPs, 2013-09-30 to 2016-07-25)
notes

2016 Nov. 25:
Group d extension (superseded by complete collection above; 315 NPs, 2015-11-21 to 2016-11-25)
notes

2015 Dec. 1:
Group d extension (superseded by complete collection above; 258 NPs, 2014-11-18 to 2015-11-03)
notes

2014 Nov. 20:
Group d (superseded by complete collection above; 259 NPs, 2013-09-30 to 2014-11-17)
notes

2013 Dec. 19:
Group c replacement (361 NPs, 2012-04-06 to 2013-09-01)
notes

2012 Nov. 6:
Group a (941 NPs, 2006-04-07 to 2010-10-30)
Group b (506 NPs, 2010-12-01 to 2012-04-06)
Group c (118 NPs, 2012-04-07 to 2012-08-28)
notes

2010 Dec. 1 (942 NPs, 2006-04-07 to 2010-10-30) notes

2009 July 17 (642 NPs, 2006-04-07 to 2009-06-15) notes

2008 Sept. 28 (453 NPs, 2006-04-07 to 2008-09-24) notes

2008 May 1 (322 NPs, 2006-04-07 to 2008-03-30) notes

The geocentric (careful: not geodetic) coordinates for the APOLLO telescope are approximately: (6374.69213 km radius; 32.6054889° latitude; 254.1795778° longitude).