Selection of Lunar South Pole Landing Site Based on Constructing and Analyzing Fuzzy Cognitive Maps

Abstract

The Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) of the lunar south pole have never been directly sampled. To explore and discover lunar resources, the Chinese lunar south pole exploration mission is scheduled to land in direct sunlight near the PSR, where sampling and analysis will be carried out. The selection of sites for lunar landing sampling sites is one of the key steps of the mission. The main factors affecting the site selection are the distribution of PSRs, lunar surface slopes, rock distribution, light intensity, and maximum temperature. In this paper, the main factors affecting site selection are analyzed based on lunar multi-source remote sensing data. Combined with previous engineering constraints, we then propose a comprehensive multi-factor fuzzy cognition and selection model for the lunar south site selection. An analytical model based on a fuzzy cognitive map algorithm is also established. Furthermore, to make a preliminary landing area selection, we determine the evaluation index for the candidate landing areas using fuzzy reasoning. Using the proposed model and combined scoring index, we also verify and analyze the prominent impact craters at the lunar south pole. The scores of de Gerlache (88.48°S 88.34°W), Shackleton (89.67°S 129.78°E), and Amundsen (84.5°S, 82.8°E) craters are determined using fuzzy interference as 0.816, 0.814, and 0.784, respectively. Moreover, using our proposed approach, we identify feasible landing sites around the de Gerlache crater close to the PSR to facilitate discovery of water ice exposures in future missions. The proposed method is capable of evaluating alternative landing zones subject to multiple engineering constraints on the Moon or Mars based on the existing data.