Remote sensing and photogrammetric studies: Part D: repeatability of elevation measurements--Apollo photography

Stereoscopic photographs of the Moon taken by the metric and panoramic cameras on board the service module of Apollo spacecraft provide a source for quantitative data on lunar topography. The accuracy of the topographic data depends, in part, on the repeatability of elevation measurements. The repeatability depends on contrast in the stereoscopic image and is affected by many factors, such as photographic quality, the photogrammetric instrument used, and illumination conditions. For the Moon, illumination conditions are important so that repeatability of elevation measurements may be statistically related to Sun elevation angles, local slopes, and albedos of surfaces. We have examined the effect of Sun elevation angle on repeatability, using Apollo 15 photographs (Wu, unpublished data), and extended the results to slope-related effects.