Impacts of Platform’s Position Errors on Geolocation for a Moon-Based Sensor

Abstract

Moon-based platform is a potential platform that can realize the observations of large-scale geoscience phenomenon. Unlike existing earth observation platforms, the moon-based platform is equipped on a natural celestial body. Its position is calculated by the lunar position and libration derived from the planetary ephemeris. However, limited to the astrometric model and accuracy of observational data, no planetary ephemeris can provide absolutely accurate data, and this will lead to a platform’s position error. This letter investigates the impacts of the platform’s position error on geolocation for a moon-based sensor. We first made comparisons to the lunar position and libration derived from different planetary ephemerides so as to evaluate the magnitude of the platform’s position error. Then, the Monte Carlo method was applied to simulate the platform’s position error. According to the geometric model, the effects of the platform’s position error on geolocation were presented. The results showed the effects of lunar libration error are associated with position on the lunar surface, while the differences of lunar position error effects are not evidently shown in different positions on the lunar surface. Furthermore, high-latitude regions of the moon are demonstrated to have less impact on the platform’s position error, which would be suitable for equipping earth observation sensors.