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Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory

March 31, 2025. Two new spherical harmonic models, GL1800F and GL1800F_ME, are released from the JPL GRAIL team. Please see errata.txt in the GRAIL Mission Gravity Model Bundle for more information.

The GRAIL mission placed two spacecraft (GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B), flying in formation, into orbit around the Moon to study its internal structure. By very precisely measuring the distance of one orbiter relative to the other, the orbital perturbations caused by the Moon could be observed. Combining this with the orbiter position as determined from Earth-based observations, the mass distribution on the Moon could be determined. The GRAIL spacecraft entered lunar orbit on December 31, 2011, and January 1, 2012. The mission ended on December 17, 2012, with a controlled impact of both spacecraft on the lunar surface.

GRAIL Data Sets

Raw Data Products
LGRS EDR - Raw science data originating from the Lunar Gravity Ranging System (LGRS) on each of the two spacecraft comprising the GRAIL mission.
RSS EDR - Raw radio science data and ancillary files from the GRAIL mission.
Calibrated Data Products
LGRS CDR - Calibrated and resampled data from the Lunar Gravity and Ranging System (LGRS) on each of the two spacecraft comprising the GRAIL mission.
Derived Data Products
LGRS RDR (PDS4) - Lunar gravitational field, NASA Level 2 data and SPICE geometry and navigation kernels created by the GRAIL SDS.
Ancillary Data Products
NAIF GRAIL SPICE Archive - Complete set of SPICE kernels created by GRAIL Navigation and archived by NAIF.

Online Tools

Lunar Orbital Data Explorer - Provides search and download tools
for selected GRAIL data sets.

Related Information

 

 

PDS Nodes PDS Atmospheres Geosciences Imaging NAIF PPI Rings Small Bodies
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Curator: Jennifer Ward
NASA Official: Paul Byrne
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