Search Results (7)

We demonstrate the creation of a large area of high-resolution (260 × 209 km² at 1 m/pixel) DTM mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images over the Chang’E-4 landing site at Von Kármán crater using an in-house deep learning-based 3D modelling system developed at University College London, called MADNet, trained with lunar orthorectified images and digital terrain models (DTMs). The resultant 1 m DTM mosaic is co-aligned with the Chang’E-2 (CE-2) and the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA)—SELenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) blended DTM product (SLDEM), providing high spatial and vertical congruence. In this paper, technical details are briefly discussed, along with visual and quantitative assessments of the resultant DTM mosaic product. The LROC NAC MADNet DTM mosaic was compared with three independent DTM datasets, and the mean differences and standard deviations are as follows: PDS photogrammetric DTM at 5 m grid-spacing had a mean difference of −0.019 ± 1.09 m, CE-2 DTM at 20 m had a mean difference of −0.048 ± 1.791 m, and SLDEM at 69 m had a mean difference of 0.577 ± 94.940 m. The resultant LROC NAC MADNet DTM mosaic, alongside a blended LROC NAC and CE-2 MADNet DTM mosaic and a separate LROC NAC, orthorectified image mosaic, are made publicly available via the ESA planetary science archive’s guest storage facility. Full article

A visible and near-infrared imaging spectrometer (VNIS) loaded by the Chang’e-4 rover is the primary method for detecting the mineral composition of the lunar surface in the landing region. However, different data processing methods yield inconsistent mineral modes in measured lunar soil and rocks. To better constrain the mineral modes of the soil and rocks measured by Chang’e-4 VNIS, a noritic-gabbroic rock with a mineral composition similar to that of the lunar highland rocks is measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the spare flight model of Chang’e-4 VNIS and TerraSpec-4 of ASD. Backscattered electron and energy dispersive spectrometry show that olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase modal mineral abundances are 12.9, 35.0, and 52.2%, respectively. The estimated results of the spectrum by the Hapke radiative transfer model are 7.5, 39.3, and 53.2% for olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase, respectively, which is consistent with to those of SEM mapping within error. In contrast, the estimated results of the modified Gaussian model are 29 and 71% for olivine and pyroxene, respectively, indicating the absence of plagioclase. Based on our implemented Hapke model, we decode the data of the two rocks detected by the rover on the 3rd and 26th lunar days of mission operations. The obtained results suggest that both rocks are norite or gabbro with noticeable differences. The first rock, with more olivine and pyroxene, may have been excavated from the Finsen crater. The second rock, with more plagioclase, may have been ejected from the southwestern edge of the Von Kármán crater, indicating the initial lunar crust. Full article

The Chang’e-4 (CE-4) lunar probe, the first soft landing spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, successfully landed in the Von Kármán crater on 3 January 2019. Geological studies of the landing area have been conducted and more intensive studies will be carried out with the in situ measured data. The chronological study of the maria basalt surrounding the CE-4 landing area is significant to the related studies. Currently, the crater size-frequency distribution (CSFD) technique is the most popular method to derive absolute model ages (AMAs) of geological units where no returned sample is available, and it has been widely used in dating maria basalt on the lunar surface. In this research, we first make a mosaic with multi-orbital Chang’e-2 (CE-2) images as a base map. Coupled with the elevation data and FeO content, nine representative areas of basalt units surrounding the CE-4 landing area are outlined and their AMAs are derived. The dating results of the nine basalt units indicate that the basalts erupted from 3.42 to 2.28 Ga ago in this area, a period much longer than derived by previous studies. The derived chronology of the above basalt units establishes a foundation for geological analysis of the returned CE-4 data. Full article

On January 3rd 2019, the Chang’e-4 mission successfully landed in the Von Kármán Crater inside the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin and achieved the first soft landing on the farside of the Moon. Lunar penetrating radar (LPR) equipped on the rover measured the shallow subsurface structure along the motion path for more than 700 m. LPR data could be used to obtain the dielectric properties of the materials beneath the exploration area, providing important clues as to the composition and source of the materials. Although the properties of the upper fine-grained regolith have been studied using various methods, the underlying coarse-grained materials still lack investigation. Therefore, this paper intends to estimate the loss tangent of the coarse-grained materials at depth ranges of ~12 and ~28 m. Stochastic media models with different rock distributions for the LPR finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation are built to evaluate the feasibility of the estimation method. Our results show that the average loss tangent value of coarse-grained materials is $0.0104\pm 0.0027$, and the abundance of $\mathrm{F}\mathrm{e}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{T}}+\mathrm{Ti}{\mathrm{O}}_2 \mathrm{is} 20.08 \mathrm{wt}.\%$, which is much higher than the overlying fine-grained regolith, indicating different sources. Full article

As one of the main payloads mounted on the Yutu-2 rover of Chang’E-4 probe, lunar penetrating radar (LPR) aims to map the subsurface structure in the Von Kármán crater. The field LPR data are generally masked by clutters and noises of large quantities. To solve the noise interference, dozens of filtering methods have been applied to LPR data. However, these methods have their limitations, so noise suppression is still a tough issue worth studying. In this article, the denoising convolutional neural network (CNN) framework is applied to the noise suppression and weak signal extraction of 500 MHz LPR data. The results verify that the low-frequency clutters embedded in the LPR data mainly came from the instrument system of the Yutu rover. Besides, compared with the classic band-pass filter and the mean filter, the CNN filter has better performance when dealing with noise interference and weak signal extraction; compared with Kirchhoff migration, it can provide original high-quality radargram with diffraction information. Based on the high-quality radargram provided by the CNN filter, the subsurface sandwich structure is revealed and the weak signals from three sub-layers within the paleo-regolith are extracted. Full article

The Chinese Chang’E-4 mission for moon exploration has been successfully completed. The Chang’E-4 probe achieved the first-ever soft landing on the floor of Von Kármán crater (177.59°E, 45.46°S) of the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin on January 3, 2019. Yutu-2 rover is mounted with several scientific instruments including a lunar penetrating radar (LPR), which is an effective instrument to detect the lunar subsurface structure. During the interpretation of LPR data, subsurface velocity of electromagnetic waves is a vital parameter necessary for stratigraphic division and computing other properties. However, the methods in previous research on Chang’E-3 cannot perform velocity analysis automatically and objectively. In this paper, the 3D velocity spectrum is applied to property analysis of LPR data from Chang’E-4. The result shows that 3D velocity spectrum can automatically search for hyperbolas; the maximum value at velocity axis with a soft threshold function can provide the horizontal position, two-way reflected time and velocity of each hyperbola; the average maximum relative error of velocity is estimated to be 7.99%. Based on the estimated velocities of 30 hyperbolas, the structures of subsurface properties are obtained, including velocity, relative permittivity, density, and content of FeO and TiO₂. Full article

The Von Kármán Crater, within the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin, is the landing site of China’s Chang’E-4 mission. To complement the in situ exploration mission and provide initial subsurface interpretation, we applied a 3D density inversion using the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) gravity data. We constrain our inversion method using known geological and geophysical lunar parameters to reduce the non-uniqueness associated with gravity inversion. The 3D density models reveal vertical and lateral density variations, 2600–3200 kg/m³, assigned to the changing porosity beneath the Von Kármán Crater. We also identify two mass excess anomalies in the crust with a steep density contrast of 150 kg/m³, which were suggested to have been caused by multiple impact cratering. The anomalies from recovered near surface density models, together with the gravity derivative maps extending to the lower crust, are consistent with surface geological manifestation of excavated mantle materials from remote sensing studies. Therefore, we suggest that the density distribution of the Von Kármán Crater indicates multiple episodes of impact cratering that resulted in formation and destruction of ancient craters, with crustal reworking and excavation of mantle materials. Full article