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NASA’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, is the source of widely used lunar elevation grids. To choose one, match its coverage and resolution to your task, then check its height reference and coordinate frame before mapping or comparing it with other data.
What NASA’s lunar elevation data measures
LOLA sends laser pulses toward the Moon and measures their return. The instrument splits each pulse into five beams and records time of flight, pulse spreading, and transmitted and returned energy. Those measurements support range, surface roughness, and reflectance products. NASA says the resulting topographic data aids safe landings and exploration-driven mobility. NASA’s LOLA mission page
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A gridded elevation model turns measurements into a raster map: each cell represents a height value at a location. LOLA is the instrument and mission dataset family; the grids available to download differ in resolution, format, coverage, and processing.
Which lunar elevation product should you choose?
Start with the area you need and the level of detail your analysis can use. The NASA Planetary Data System (PDS) describes LOLA Gridded Data Record products at several grid spacings; NASA Goddard’s Planetary Geodesy Data Archive (PGDA) lists particular global grids and a combined altimetry-and-camera product.
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| Product | Coverage and resolution | Formats and practical notes |
|---|---|---|
| LOLA Gridded Data Record (PDS profile) | The profile lists grids at 4, 16, 64, 128, 256, and 512 pixels per degree, as applicable. Preliminary 1024-pixel-per-degree products are described as sparse; availability and coverage depend on the specific product. | Raster digital elevation models. Check the individual product’s coverage and version in the NASA PDS product profile. |
| LOLA MOON_PA (PGDA) | Global grids at 64 and 128 pixels per degree. | GeoTIFF and netCDF/GMT. The 128-pixel-per-degree files are several gigabytes. Heights are relative to a 1737.4 km lunar reference radius. See the PGDA product page. |
| SLDEM2015 (PGDA) | Global maps from 60° south to 60° north. The page reports effective horizontal resolution of about 60–100 m for the terrain-camera DEM data; actual coverage and effective resolution depend on region and file. | Combines LOLA altimetry with SELENE Terrain Camera data. The PGDA page notes LOLA coverage is sufficiently dense for most purposes outside that latitude band. See the PGDA SLDEM2015 page. |
Pixels per degree describe angular grid spacing, not a single universal ground-distance resolution: the distance represented by a degree varies with latitude. For work over a particular region, inspect the exact file’s footprint and product documentation rather than assuming every grid has complete or uniform detail.
What does zero elevation mean on the Moon?
It is height relative to a specified lunar reference radius, not height above an Earth-style sea level. In PGDA’s LOLA MOON_PA grids, the reference radius is 1737.4 km. A reported height is meaningful only when paired with its product and reference; do not treat zero as a universal lunar datum across all datasets.
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Why coordinate frames matter
MOON_PA and the cartographic MOON_ME body-fixed frame are related by a coordinate transformation. PGDA describes a difference corresponding to approximately 875 m along a lunar great circle. That distinction can matter when overlaying or comparing topography with gravity or another mapped dataset. Confirm that the coordinate frames are compatible before interpreting apparent offsets as terrain differences. PGDA product documentation
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How to download and make a lunar topography map
- Define the job. Decide whether you need a global overview, a particular region, or a higher-detail surface model. Note the storage and processing limits of your computer, especially for the several-gigabyte 128-pixel-per-degree PGDA grids.
- Choose the product and inspect its documentation. Use the PDS LOLA Gridded Data Record profile to review product options, or the PGDA MOON_PA page for its 64- and 128-pixel-per-degree global grids. For mid-latitude terrain-camera coverage, review SLDEM2015. Follow the official page’s download links for the files.
- Check the file before mapping. Confirm its geographic coverage, resolution, format, version, reference radius, and coordinate frame. Make sure the other layers you plan to overlay use compatible frames and references.
- Open and visualize the grid with suitable software. The files are supplied in formats such as GeoTIFF and netCDF/GMT. NASA’s educator resource points to GRIDVIEW documentation for obtaining software and working with gridded LOLA data to make and manipulate lunar topography maps, but does not establish current step-by-step instructions for a particular GIS application. NASA educator resource
- Label the map accurately. Identify the dataset and version, units, reference radius, and coordinate frame. If you compare or combine layers, state any transformations used.
How to cite the data
For PGDA’s LOLA MOON_PA grids, the archive requests this citation: Neumann, G. (2024). LOLA MOON_PA gridded dataset [Data set]. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Planetary Geodesy Data Archive. doi:10.60903/LOLA_PA. Consult the PGDA citation guidance for that dataset; cite the exact product you actually use when working with another grid.
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