MESSENGER MLA: Uncalibrated Laser Altimeter Observations of Mercury

Mercury surface data from the MESSENGER spacecraft's Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration provides uncalibrated observations, including laser ranges, instrument status, and hardware diagnostics. The dataset was last updated on March 13, 2026.

Use Cases

• Calculate Mercury surface topography based on laser range measurements.
• Monitor spacecraft instrument health and status based on diagnostic information.
• Correlate surface features with altimeter readings for geological analysis.
• Calibrate or validate higher-level data products using the raw experiment records.

Strengths

• Data originates from the NASA MESSENGER mission, a primary source for Mercury science.
• Contains three distinct data product types (MLASCIENCERAW, MLASTATUS, MLAHDIAGNOSTIC) for multifaceted analysis.
• Last update timestamp (2026-03-13) is provided, indicating recent metadata maintenance.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is described as uncalibrated, requiring further processing for scientific use.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the Mercury Laser Altimeter instrument aboard the MESSENGER spacecraft.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 13:49:07.314130; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Mercury (planet)