File:LRO spacecraft instrument LOLA.jpg

English: LOLA is one of seven instruments aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft

The LOLA instrument pulses a single laser at 1,064 nm wavelength laser, splitting the output into five beams that illuminates surface 28 times per second. For each beam, LOLA measures time of flight (range), pulse spreading (surface roughness), and transmit/return energy (surface reflectance). This allows the topography to be determined, along with an indication of whether the surface is rough or smooth at small scales and any changes in the surface brightness. With its two dimensional spot pattern, LOLA unambiguously etermines slopes along and across the orbit track.

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) will measure the slope of potential landing sites and lunar surface roughness. LOLA will generate a high-resolution, 3-D map of the moon. LOLA also will measure and analyze the lunar topography to identify permanently illuminated and permanently shadowed areas. Certain mountain peaks at the lunar poles might be permanently illuminated. These regions may be good places for a solar power station. The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) was conceived and built by scientists and engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.