Advances in Exploring the Moon, Mars, and Asteroids Using Spacecraft Remote Sensing and Other Toolkits

Dear Colleagues,

Remote sensing plays critical roles in exploring different planetary bodies including the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. Remotely sensed optical images consist primarily of multi- and hyper-spectral datasets in the visible-near-infrared (VNIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) regions that are sensitive to the mineralogical composition on the Moon, Mars, Mercury, and asteroids because of spectrally diagnostic absorption features of major minerals (e.g., olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, ilmenite, and plagioclase), different glasses, or molecular waters on the Moon, Mars, or some asteroids. On the other hand, thermal infrared (TIR) and passive microwave data are definitely necessary for mapping substrate physical properties (i.e., temperature, regolith’s size, and thickness and layering) and chemical compositions, which are critical for understanding surface and subsurface geology of airless or atmosphere-enveloped planetary bodies. Moreover, geophysical methods including digital terrain models, gravity and magnetic anomalies, seismic waves, and heat flux are available for characterizing the interiors of planets and small bodies hidden from remote sensing.

This Special Issue invites manuscripts focusing on analysing returning samples, spacecraft remote sensing, and geophysical data acquired by the latest missions to the Moon, Mars or asteroids and highlighting their importance for investigation of the Moon, Mars, asteroids and related planetary bodies. The Special Issue also welcomes to manuscripts reporting research results from integration of various observations by photography, nuclear remote sensing, and geophysical exploration, which advance our current knowledge of comparative planetology and expand remote sensing application. The topics will include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Spacecraft remote sensing by Chang’E-series missions or its integration with analysing returned samples for mapping lunar regolith, mineralogy, and lithology;
• Spacecraft remote sensing by Chang’E-series missions or its integration with geophysical methods for mapping lunar geological units, tectonic features, volcanism, and interior;
• Recent investigations (rover measurements, returning samples, remote sensing, and geophysics) from other missions on lunar regolith, rock units, tectonic features, volcanism, and interior;
• Studies on identification/investigation of potentially geological active features on the Moon using data acquired by Chang’E-series and other lunar missions;
• Recent investigations from Mars missions on Martian regolith and rock types, geological units, tectonic features, volcanism, and interior;
• Spacecraft remote sensing by near future asteroid missions or its integration with geophysical methods for investigation of asteroid regolith and rock types, geological units, tectonic features, volcanism, and interior;
• Remotely optical spectroscopy and image data analysis;
• Remotely thermal sensing of physical and compositional properties;
• Microwave remote sensing of surface and subsurface properties;
• Radiative transfer models for sensing various planetary bodies and comparative planetology;
• Methods for integrative analysis of geological, remote sensing and geophysical datasets.

Prof. Dr. Shengbo Chen
Prof. Dr. Lin Li
Prof. Dr. Yuanzhi Zhang
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.