Abstract
Abstract. The European Space Agency (ESA) is planning a Lunar Lander mission in the 2018 timeframe that will demonstrate precise soft landing at the polar regions of the Moon. To ensure a safe and successful landing a careful risk analysis has to be carried out. This is comprised of identifying favorable target areas and evaluating the surface conditions in these areas. Features like craters, boulders, steep slopes, rough surfaces and shadow areas have to be identified in order to assess the risk associated to a landing site in terms of a successful touchdown and subsequent surface operation of the lander. In addition, global illumination conditions at the landing site have to be simulated and analyzed. The Landing Site Risk Analysis software framework (LandSAfe) is a system for the analysis, selection and certification of safe landing sites on the lunar surface. LandSAfe generates several data products including high resolution digital terrain models (DTMs), hazard maps, illumination maps, temperature maps and surface reflectance maps which assist the user in evaluating potential landing site candidates. This paper presents the LandSAfe system and describes the methods and products of the different modules. For one candidate landing site on the rim of Shackleton crater at the south pole of the Moon a high resolution DTM is showcased.
Highlights
The Lunar Lander mission of European Space Agency (ESA) aims at demonstrating precise and safe soft landing in the south pole region of the Moon with a launch in the 2018 timeframe
The combination of digital terrain models (DTMs) derived from LROC NAC images and height data of the LOLA (Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter) instrument (Smith et al 2010) allows for an automatic quantitative evaluation of landing site hazards like craters and boulders with respect to detection, counting, sizing and distribution
LandSAfe is based on a web-based client/server model: the system providing the Product Generation Modules and Data Store is running on a server which is accessible through a graphical user interface (UIF) running in a web browser
Summary
The Lunar Lander mission of ESA aims at demonstrating precise and safe soft landing in the south pole region of the Moon with a launch in the 2018 timeframe. During the landing phase hazards like boulders, craters, steep slopes, rough surfaces and shadows have to be detected and avoided through active steering. The Landing Site Risk Analysis software framework (LandSAfe) is a system for the analysis, selection and certification of safe landing sites on the lunar surface It provides Product Generation Modules for the automatic production of lunar digital terrain models (DTMs) and derived products like hazard maps, illumination maps, temperature maps and surface reflectance maps. The combination of DTMs derived from LROC NAC images and height data of the LOLA (Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter) instrument (Smith et al 2010) allows for an automatic quantitative evaluation of landing site hazards like craters and boulders with respect to detection, counting, sizing and distribution.
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