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A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 42554

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Louis Scuderi

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Guest Editor

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: geomorphology and surface processes; remote sensing; geographic information system; climate reconstruction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Until the successful Viking landings in 1976, our understanding of the physical processes on Mars was entirely based on flybys (Mariner; 1965) and orbital missions (Mariner 9; Mars 2 and 3), which provided the first close-up imagery of another planet. Since then, numerous landers and rovers have successfully achieved soft landings on the surface. They have been accompanied by a number of orbital missions that now provide the scientific community with high-resolution surface imagery.

Analysis of remote sensing data, both from orbit and from instruments on rovers and static platforms, now allow for detailed assessments of Martian atmospheric, surface and subsurface characteristics. Additional missions currently in transit to Mars will provide further enhancement of these capabilities and opportunities for analysis.

We would like to invite you to submit articles on new orbital and rover-based remote sensing methods and applications of these methods that enhance our understanding of the atmospheric, surface and subsurface characteristics of Mars. This includes surface mapping, analysis, and the interpretation of geomorphic forms, chemical analysis of constituent atmospheric, surface and subsurface units, seismologic analysis of the Martian interior, and the fusion of surface observations from rovers with space-based data.

We therefore seek original research articles covering all aspects of Martian remote sensing and mapping from the interpretation of orbital and rover based remotely sensed data, to new instruments, methods, algorithms, machine learning approaches, datasets and validations.

We look forward to receiving your submissions, which will be thoroughly reviewed within a much shorter turnaround time than most current journals.

Dr. Louis Scuderi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Martian geomorphology: aeolian, fluvial, glacial, weathering, mass wasting
Martian mapping: atmosphere, solid surfaces and subsurfaces
Martian orbital remote sensing techniques, new instruments
machine learning applied to Martian mapping and remotely sensed data
Martian change detection from orbital images
lander/rover fusion with orbital data
data product dissemination, formats, interoperability
data analysis methods for large Martian data sets

Published Papers (14 papers)

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Research

40 pages, 24368 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Learning the Link between Albedo and Reflectance: Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Hyperspectral Bands from CTX Images

by Sergej Stepcenkov, Thorsten Wilhelm and Christian Wöhler

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(14), 3457; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14143457 - 18 Jul 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1947

Abstract

The instruments of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide a large quantity and variety of imagining data for investigations of the Martian surface. Among others, the hyper-spectral Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) captures visible to infrared reflectance across several hundred spectral bands. However, Mars is only partially covered with targeted CRISM at full spectral and spatial resolution. In fact, less than one percent of the Martian surface is imaged in this way. In contrast, the Context Camera (CTX) onboard the MRO delivers images with a higher spatial resolution and the image data cover almost the entire Martian surface. In this work, we examine to what extent machine learning systems can learn the relation between morphology, albedo and spectral composition. To this end, a dataset of 67 CRISM-CTX image pairs is created and different deep neural networks are trained for the pixel-wise prediction of CRISM bands solely based on the albedo information of a CTX image. The trained models enable us to estimate spectral bands across large areas without existing CRISM data and to predict the spectral composition of any CTX image. The predictions are qualitatively similar to the ground-truth spectra and are also able to recover finer grained details, such as dunes or small craters. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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21 pages, 5961 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Concept and Design of Martian Far-IR ORE Spectrometer (MIRORES)

by Jakub Ciazela, Jaroslaw Bakala, Miroslaw Kowalinski, Stefan Plocieniak, Natalia Zalewska, Bartosz Pieterek, Tomasz Mrozek, Marta Ciazela, Grzegorz Paslawski, Marek Steslicki, Zaneta Szaforz, Jaromir Barylak, Mateusz Kuzaj, Alessandro Maturilli, Joern Helbert, Andrzej Muszynski, Miroslaw Rataj, Szymon Gburek, Mateusz Jozefowicz and Dariusz Marciniak

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(12), 2799; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14122799 - 10 Jun 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2661

Abstract

Sulfide ores are a major source of noble (Au, Ag, and Pt) and base (Cu, Pb, Zn, Sn, Co, Ni, etc.) metals and will, therefore, be vital for the self-sustainment of future Mars colonies. Martian meteorites are rich in sulfides, which is reflected in recent findings for surface Martian rocks analyzed by the Spirit and Curiosity rovers. However, the only high-resolution (18 m/pixel) infrared (IR) spectrometer orbiting Mars, the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), is not well-suited for detecting sulfides on the Martian surface. Spectral interference with silicates impedes sulfide detection in the 0.4–3.9 μm CRISM range. In contrast, at least three common hydrothermal sulfides on Earth and Mars (pyrite, chalcopyrite, marcasite) have prominent absorption peaks in a narrow far-IR (FIR) wavelength range of 23–28 μm. Identifying the global distribution and chemical composition of sulfide ore deposits would help in choosing useful targets for future Mars exploration missions. Therefore, we have designed a new instrument suitable for measuring sulfides in the FIR range called the Martian far-IR Ore Spectrometer (MIRORES). MIRORES will measure radiation in six narrow bands (~0.3 µm in width), including three bands centered on the sulfide absorption bands (23.2, 24.3 and 27.6 µm), two reference bands (21.5 and 26.1) and one band for clinopyroxene interference (29.0 µm). Focusing on sulfides only will make it possible to adapt the instrument size (32 × 32 × 42 cm) and mass (<10 kg) to common microsatellite requirements. The biggest challenges related to this design are: (1) the small field of view conditioned by the high resolution required for such a study (<20 m/pixel), which, in limited space, can only be achieved by the use of the Cassegrain optical system; and (2) a relatively stable measurement temperature to maintain radiometric accuracy and enable precise calibration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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16 pages, 4764 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of the Effects of Regional and Global Dust Storms on the Composition of the Ionized Species of the Martian Upper Atmosphere Using MAVEN

by Ashraf Farahat, Paul Withers, Majd Mayyasi and Maher A. Dayeh

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(11), 2594; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112594 - 28 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1602

Abstract

The densities of three ion species in the Martian upper atmosphere were compared during the MY33 and MY34 Martian regional and global dust storms (RDS 2016 and GDS 2018, respectively) using data from the neutral gas and ion mass spectrometer of the Mars atmosphere and volatile evolution mission. The trends of the ion species and their relative abundances in altitudes compared to some neutral species were examined from 10 September–4 October 2016 and 27 May–18 June 2018, at altitudes of 160–240 km. Both RDS 2016 and GDS 2018 caused variations in the ion species abundance of the upper atmosphere at their onsets in 18–21 September 2016 and 5–8 June 2018 respectively. The densities of O₂⁺, CO₂⁺, and O⁺ increased during RDS 2016. Meanwhile, O₂⁺ and O⁺ densities decreased and CO₂⁺ density increased during GDS 2018. Ion species’ relative abundances indicate that during RDS 2016, the increase in O₂⁺ density may be caused by the increase of CO₂⁺ or O⁺ densities rather than the increase of O or CO₂ densities. Meanwhile, the decrease in O₂⁺ density during GDS 2018 may be caused by the decrease of O or O⁺ densities rather than the decrease in CO₂⁺ or CO₂ densities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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20 pages, 9114 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diurnal Variations of Water Ice in the Martian Atmosphere Observed by Mars Climate Sounder

by Zhaopeng Wu, Tao Li, Jing Li, Chengyun Yang and Jun Cui

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(9), 2235; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14092235 - 6 May 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1632

Abstract

Simulation studies have proposed a significant thermal effect of water ice clouds on the Martian atmosphere and climate. However, previous studies focused more on seasonal variations but less on short-term changes. In this work, we used the MCS multi-local time data to investigate the water ice diurnal variations on Mars. We quantified its diurnal variations with amplitude and phase by applying the tidal fitting method to the water ice abundance. In addition, we found a close correlation (antiphase relation) between the thermal tide and water ice diurnal variations during the aphelion seasons that was not sensitive to both the background water ice and dust opacity but increased with the tidal amplitude. In the perihelion seasons, the antiphase relation was sensitive to the water ice and dust opacity, both affected by the dust storm activity. Finally, the statistic results suggested an unexpected low threshold of diurnal tide amplitude (2 to 3 K) for generating a relevant water ice diurnal variation, accounting for the ubiquitous water ice diurnal variations in the Martian atmosphere. These new observational results can help further understand the phase transition process between ice and vapor in the Martian atmosphere and better constrain the Martian global climate model in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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16 pages, 41868 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Charged Martian Dust on Martian Atmosphere Remote Sensing

by Xuebang Gao, Li Xie, Xuqiang Dou and Jun Zhou

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(9), 2072; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14092072 - 26 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1814

Abstract

In this paper, the extinction property and optical depth of charged Martian dust at infrared band 3 THz–300 THz are studied using the Mie scattering theory. It is found that the extinction coefficients of Martian atmospheric dust and the dust optical depth (DOD) of the Martian atmosphere can be amplified significantly as the dust particles are charged. This extinction amplification has a peak, called amplification resonance, which shifts toward the upper left of the r-q parameter plane with increasing frequency. Here, r denotes the particle radius and q denotes the particle’s total net charge. The amplification of the Martian DOD is more significant at high altitudes than at low altitudes because the particles at high altitudes are smaller. For example, at an altitude of 30–50 km, the dust optical depth at 30 THz can be increased by 60–200%. However, at 3 THz–10 THz, the DOD at the near surface altitude (0–10 km) can still be enhanced by ~80%. This implies that by treating the Martian dust as uncharged particles, the dust density constructed from the Martian DOD data might be overestimated. The estimation error of the dust density of the Martin atmosphere may be reduced by counting the enhancement of the DOD that is caused by charged dust. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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17 pages, 17225 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Chaos Terrain as Subaqueous Slide Blocks in Galilaei Crater, Mars

by Nabila Nizam, Claire Divola, Mackenzie Day, An Yin and Seulgi Moon

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(9), 1998; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14091998 - 21 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2383

Abstract

Chaos terrain, expressed as enigmatic blocky landscapes on Mars, has poorly understood origins. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain chaos terrain formation, but none fully account for the morphologies observed in Galilaei crater, the focus of this study. Previously inferred to be a paleolake, Galilaei crater hosts chaos terrain composed of kilometer-scale, disorganized blocks around the southern and southeastern margin of the crater. Blocks are concentrated near the base of the crater wall, with blocks of decreasing size extending into the crater interior. The crater wall slope in regions where these chaos blocks are present is notably lower than in regions where blocks are absent. Based on the observed morphologies, we propose the chaos terrain in Galilaei crater formed by gravity-driven slope failure and down-slope transport as subaqueous landslides and mass flows, initiated at a time when the paleolake level was still high. We propose and discuss Earth analogs for the observed terrain and use mapping-constrained spatiotemporal relationships to reconstruct the sequence of landform development. Subaqueous landslides represent an uncommonly invoked mechanism to explain chaos terrain on Mars, reinforcing the idea that one mechanism cannot explain the diversity of this enigmatic terrain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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26 pages, 6157 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Analysis of Putative Rock Glaciers on Mount Sharp, Gale Crater, Mars

by Joshua M. Williams, Louis A. Scuderi and Horton E. Newsom

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(8), 1887; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14081887 - 14 Apr 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2710

Abstract

The presence of buried glacial ice and putative extinct rock glaciers in Mars’ equatorial regions has implications for understanding its climate history and sensitivity to changes in insolation and has significant implications for past global redistribution of the water ice cryosphere. We quantify the morphology of rock glacier- “like” features on the northern slopes of Aeolis Mons (known also as Mount Sharp) within Gale crater and use this information to evaluate a possible rock glacier origin for these forms. Detailed morphometric evaluation of cross and long profiles of these lobate features, which exhibit higher slopes at their heads, lower slopes at their distal edge, and a convex upward cross-sectional profile and oversteepened sides, resembles active terrestrial rock glaciers. However, the absence of a chevron wrinkle pattern and sublimation features could indicate extensive aeolian reworking and the lack of deflation could indicate a higher rock to ice mixture. The lack of cratering surfaces relative to the cratered surfaces that they overly could indicate a younger age and are possibly indistinguishable in age from the capping units of Mount Sharp, which may have once been more laterally extensive and may have been the source of these mass wasting forms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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13 pages, 3068 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Method for Retrieving Electron Density Profiles from the MARSIS Ionograms

by Wendong Liu, Libo Liu, Yiding Chen, Huijun Le, Ruilong Zhang, Wenbo Li, Jiacheng Li, Tongtong Zhang, Yuyan Yang and Han Ma

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(8), 1817; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14081817 - 9 Apr 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1509

Abstract

The Martian ionosphere was actively detected by Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) aboard the Mars Express. The detected echo signal of the MARSIS at an epoch is presented as a function of frequency and time delay to form an ionogram. Some MARSIS ionograms have been processed to obtain the electron density profiles of the Martian topside ionosphere. Unfortunately, more than half of the records cannot be processed with current methods due to the lack of local plasma density information at spacecraft altitude. In this work, we employ a piece-wise exponent to describe the electron density profile of the Martian topside ionosphere. The piece-wise exponent used in our method can reasonably capture the altitude structure of the Martian topside ionosphere, which has been validated with the MGS and MAVEN data. In an altitude regime of lower than 200 km, the average absolute height error of the same electron density between MGS data and fitted profiles is 0.006 km, and the average relative error is 0.008%. In an altitude regime of higher than 200 km, the average absolute height error of the same electron density between MGS data and fitted profiles is 0.55 km, and the average relative error is −0.1%. Based on the altitude structure knowledge of the Martian topside ionosphere, we put forward a new method to invert electron density profiles from MARSIS ionograms with/without local plasma density information. Compared with the previous results, the average absolute difference in the peak height of the retrieved profile is 7.38 km, within the margin of the MARSIS height resolution of 13.8 km. The average relative difference is only 3%. The application of the new method can greatly improve the utilization rate of MARSIS ionogram records. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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17 pages, 804 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling the CO

_{2}^{+}

Ultraviolet Doublet Emission from Mars with a Multi-Instrument MAVEN Data Set

by Zichuan Li, Dandan Niu, Hao Gu, Xiaoshu Wu, Yingying Huang, Jiahao Zhong and Jun Cui

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(7), 1705; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14071705 - 1 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1749

Abstract

With the aid of a multi-instrument data set gathered by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) during ten selected periods, we make detailed calculations of the CO

_{2}^{+}

Ultraviolet Doublet (UVD) emission brightness profiles which are then compared to the Imaging [...] Read more.

With the aid of a multi-instrument data set gathered by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) during ten selected periods, we make detailed calculations of the CO

_{2}^{+}

Ultraviolet Doublet (UVD) emission brightness profiles which are then compared to the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrometer limb observations. Our calculations confirm that the photoionization of atmospheric CO

_{2}

is the predominant process driving CO

_{2}^{+}

UVD emission at high altitudes, whereas the photoelectron impact ionization of CO

_{2}

becomes more important at low altitudes. The data–model comparisons show good agreement near and above the emission peak at around 120 km with an intensity of 27–45 kR. A special case is found for period 3 coincident with a regional dust storm during which the peak altitude rose by 20 km. Of particular interest is the significant discrepancy below the peak, which is likely associated with the uncertainties in either atmospheric density or incident solar irradiance. A detailed investigation suggests that the latter uncertainty is more likely responsible for such a discrepancy, in that the solar irradiance shortward of a wavelength threshold below 30 nm should be adjusted to achieve reasonable data–model agreement over the entire altitude range. This result highlights the necessity to improve the accuracy of any solar irradiance model used for planetary aeronomical studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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17 pages, 4411 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparitive Study of the Geomorphological Characteristics of Valley Networks between Mars and the Qaidam Basin

by Lu Chen, Yi Xu and Bo Li

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(21), 4471; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13214471 - 7 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2595

Abstract

The complex valley networks that cross the Martian surface offer geomorphologic evidence of the presence of liquid water at some point in its history. However, the derivation of both temporal and hydrological dimensions of this climate phase is far from settled. Studies comparing terrestrial fluvial networks of known formation environments with those on Mars can be used as a key to unlock the past. This work represents an analogy study and comparison between the river networks in the Qaidam Basin and those on Mars. As the Martian valley networks formed in different geologic periods with characteristic and unique features, three cases from the Noachian to the Amazonian were selected to be compared with streams in the Mangya area, where the climate is extremely arid. In terms of the maturity of the dendritic river system, shape, concave index, and branching angle (BA), the valley network in the Mangya area is comparable to Naktong Vallis, dated to the Hesperian. We also calculated throughout the valley networks on Mars the parameters of the BA and the concave index, both of which are important climatic indicators. The results show that the climate on Mars became progressively more arid, starting from the Noachian up to the Amazonian. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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94 pages, 38060 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Recognition of Sedimentary Rock Occurrences in Satellite and Aerial Images of Other Worlds—Insights from Mars

by Kenneth S. Edgett and Ranjan Sarkar

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(21), 4296; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13214296 - 26 Oct 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 8935

Abstract

Sedimentary rocks provide records of past surface and subsurface processes and environments. The first step in the study of the sedimentary rock record of another world is to learn to recognize their occurrences in images from instruments aboard orbiting, flyby, or aerial platforms. For two decades, Mars has been known to have sedimentary rocks; however, planet-wide identification is incomplete. Global coverage at 0.25–6 m/pixel, and observations from the Curiosity rover in Gale crater, expand the ability to recognize Martian sedimentary rocks. No longer limited to cases that are light-toned, lightly cratered, and stratified—or mimic original depositional setting (e.g., lithified deltas)—Martian sedimentary rocks include dark-toned examples, as well as rocks that are erosion-resistant enough to retain small craters as well as do lava flows. Breakdown of conglomerates, breccias, and even some mudstones, can produce a pebbly regolith that imparts a “smooth” appearance in satellite and aerial images. Context is important; sedimentary rocks remain challenging to distinguish from primary igneous rocks in some cases. Detection of ultramafic, mafic, or andesitic compositions do not dictate that a rock is igneous, and clast genesis should be considered separately from the depositional record. Mars likely has much more sedimentary rock than previously recognized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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40 pages, 315129 KiB

Open AccessArticle

MADNet 2.0: Pixel-Scale Topography Retrieval from Single-View Orbital Imagery of Mars Using Deep Learning

by Yu Tao, Jan-Peter Muller, Siting Xiong and Susan J. Conway

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(21), 4220; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13214220 - 21 Oct 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3455

Abstract

The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provides remotely sensed imagery at the highest spatial resolution at 25–50 cm/pixel of the surface of Mars. However, due to the spatial resolution being so high, the total area covered by HiRISE targeted stereo acquisitions is very limited. This results in a lack of the availability of high-resolution digital terrain models (DTMs) which are better than 1 m/pixel. Such high-resolution DTMs have always been considered desirable for the international community of planetary scientists to carry out fine-scale geological analysis of the Martian surface. Recently, new deep learning-based techniques that are able to retrieve DTMs from single optical orbital imagery have been developed and applied to single HiRISE observational data. In this paper, we improve upon a previously developed single-image DTM estimation system called MADNet (1.0). We propose optimisations which we collectively call MADNet 2.0, which is based on a supervised image-to-height estimation network, multi-scale DTM reconstruction, and 3D co-alignment processes. In particular, we employ optimised single-scale inference and multi-scale reconstruction (in MADNet 2.0), instead of multi-scale inference and single-scale reconstruction (in MADNet 1.0), to produce more accurate large-scale topographic retrieval with boosted fine-scale resolution. We demonstrate the improvements of the MADNet 2.0 DTMs produced using HiRISE images, in comparison to the MADNet 1.0 DTMs and the published Planetary Data System (PDS) DTMs over the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover’s landing site at Oxia Planum. Qualitative and quantitative assessments suggest the proposed MADNet 2.0 system is capable of producing pixel-scale DTM retrieval at the same spatial resolution (25 cm/pixel) of the input HiRISE images. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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27 pages, 16868 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ultra-High-Resolution 1 m/pixel CaSSIS DTM Using Super-Resolution Restoration and Shape-from-Shading: Demonstration over Oxia Planum on Mars

by Yu Tao, Sylvain Douté, Jan-Peter Muller, Susan J. Conway, Nicolas Thomas and Gabriele Cremonese

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(11), 2185; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13112185 - 3 Jun 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4109

Abstract

We introduce a novel ultra-high-resolution Digital Terrain Model (DTM) processing system using a combination of photogrammetric 3D reconstruction, image co-registration, image super-resolution restoration, shape-from-shading DTM refinement, and 3D co-alignment methods. Technical details of the method are described, and results are demonstrated using a 4 m/pixel Trace Gas Orbiter Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) panchromatic image and an overlapping 6 m/pixel Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX) stereo pair to produce a 1 m/pixel CaSSIS Super-Resolution Restoration (SRR) DTM for different areas over Oxia Planum on Mars—the future ESA ExoMars 2022 Rosalind Franklin rover’s landing site. Quantitative assessments are made using profile measurements and the counting of resolvable craters, in comparison with the publicly available 1 m/pixel High-Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) DTM. These assessments demonstrate that the final resultant 1 m/pixel CaSSIS DTM from the proposed processing system has achieved comparable and sometimes more detailed 3D reconstruction compared to the overlapping HiRISE DTM. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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15 pages, 17002 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multistage Evolution in Transverse Aeolian Ridges

by Timothy Nagle-McNaughton and Louis Scuderi

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(7), 1329; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13071329 - 31 Mar 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2068

Abstract

Transverse aeolian ridges (TARs) are poorly understood relict aeolian Martian surface features. Processes that create TARs are not well-constrained, and understanding their formation is complicated since they appear to share some features of ripples, megaripples, and dunes. While some evidence of multi-stage TAR formation has been documented in Nirgal Vallis, here we present additional evidence for this process at nine locations on Mars using cratering superposition between different ridge morphologies. Most occurrences of multistage evolution will not preserve the precise series of cratering and formation events documented here, which potentially means that this formative process may have been more common than even these new widespread observations suggest. This formative process can help determine the relative similarity of TARs to ripples, megaripples and dunes. Based on our observations, we conclude that primary TAR forms are most like megaripples, and that subsequent ridges formed like aqueous ripple spurs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mars Remote Sensing)

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