John F. Cavanaugh

TL;DR: The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) as discussed by the authors is an instrument on the payload of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft (LRO) which is designed to measure the shape of the Moon by measuring precisely the range from the spacecraft to the lunar surface.

TL;DR: LOLA's initial global data sets as well as the first high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of polar topography are described in this article, where LOLA has also provided the highest resolution global maps yet produced of slopes, roughness and the 1064-nm reflectance of the lunar surface.

TL;DR: The major components of the ICESat-2 observatory are presented, including the Global Positioning System, star trackers and inertial measurement unit, as well as the precise photon round-trip time of flight.

TL;DR: The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) as discussed by the authors is one of the payload science instruments on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, which launched on August 3, 2004.

TL;DR: Spacecraft data and a thermal model show that water ice and organic volatiles are present at Mercury’s north pole and correlation of observed reflectance with modeled temperatures indicates that the optically bright regions are consistent with surface water ice, whereas dark regions are consistency with a surface layer of complex organic material that likely overlies buried ice and provides thermal insulation.