Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) Derived Data
MESSENGER Mission to Mercury

This bundle contains the following collections:

data_rdr_radr - derived data products
data_gdr - gridded (map) data products
browse_gdr - browse versions of the gridded products
document - the MLA RDR Software Interface Specification and other relevant documents
spice_kernels_navassmt - SPICE kernels from the Navigation Assessment operation
document_navassmt - documents and plots relevant to the Navigation Assessment operation
miscellaneous - the PDS3 index table for this archive

This PDS4 bundle has been migrated from a PDS3 data volume. For details, see the document
geo_notes_and_errata.pdf in the document collection.

Each document and data product in this bundle is described by a PDS4 label in a separate file with 
the same name but with the extension XML. PDS4 labels are XML (eXtended Markup Language) files that 
conform to the PDS4 Information Model XML schema at https://pds.nasa.gov/pds4/schema/released/. 
They are best viewed in an XML-aware text editor, and may be used by software that can manipulate 
XML documents.

The MESSENGER MLA derived product collection contains MLA gridded data records and reduced data
records. Code refers to the product type abbreviation used in the file name, where relevant.


Code     Product Type        Description                                             Storage Format

SCIRDR   Geolocated          This product type consists of ranging time of flight    ASCII Table   
         Science V2          data and ancillary information. Values have been                      
                             converted into physical and engineering units.                        

---      Map V2              This product type contains a MLA-derived altimetry      Image Array   
                             map with adjusted ground tracks to minimize crossover   and JPEG2000  
                             residuals.                                                            

MLA Derived GDR polar stereographic products have the following file names:
hppp_ttd_rrrm.xxx
where:
h   = Target planet Mercury
ppp = product type
dem = Digital Elevation Model
dec = Digital Counts
tt  = minimum latitude
d   = north “N” or south “S” pole
rrr = resolution in m/pixel
m   = meters/pixel
xxx = File extension:
img = binary image
jp2 = JPEG2000

MLA Derived RDR products have the following file names:
mlazzzyymmddhhnn.tab
where:
zzz = Product type
yy  = last 2 digits of the year in which the first data record was acquired
mm  = 2-digit month in which the first data record was acquired
dd  = 2-digit day in which the first data record was acquired
hh  = 2-digit hour corresponding to the first record in the data
nn  = 2-digit minute corresponding to the first record in the data

This bundle was created and archived by the Geosciences Node of the Planetary Data System. 
Questions about this bundle may be directed to geosci@wunder.wustl.edu.