Clementine Spacecraft Sensors

The main instrumentation on Clementine consists of four cameras, one with a laser-ranging system. The cameras include an ultraviolet-visual (UVVIS) camera, a long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) camera, the laser-ranger (LIDAR) high-resolution (HIRES) camera, and a near-infrared (NIR) camera. The spacecraft also has two star tracker cameras (A-STAR, B- STAR), used mainly for attitude determination, but they also serve as wide-field cameras for various scientific and operational purposes. The sensor package has a mass of 8 kg and represents the state-of-the-art at the initiation of the Clementine program. The sensors are all located on one side, 90 degrees away from the solar panels. Clementine has 12 small attitude control jets that were used to orient the spacecraft to point the cameras to desired targets. The attitude control system includes the two star tracker cameras and two lightweight inertial measurement units, based on a ring laser gyro and an interferometric fiber optic gyro. During initial deployment at low-earth-orbit, the full size spacecraft was 3-axis stabilized. The spacecraft was 3-axis stabilized in lunar orbit via reaction wheels, with a precision of 0.05 Deg. in control and 0.03 in knowledge.

More Information About Each Sensor

• Ultraviolet/Visible Camera (UVVIS)
• Near Infrared Camera (NIR)
• High-Resolution Camera (HIRES)
• Laser Rangefinder (LIDAR)
• Long Wavelength Infrared Camera (LWIR)
• Startrack Cameras (A-STAR, B-STAR)