Three-Dimensional Model of the Moon with Semantic Information of Craters Based on Chang'e Data.

Yunfan Lu,Lupeng Liu,Yifan Hu,Jun Xiao,Ying Wang,Long Zhang

doi:10.3390/s21030959

Yunfan Lu, Lupeng Liu + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/s21030959

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Abstract

China’s Chang’e lunar exploration project obtains digital orthophoto image (DOM) and digital elevation model (DEM) data covering the whole Moon, which are critical to lunar research. The DOM data have three resolutions (i.e., 7, 20 and 50 m), while the DEM has two resolutions (i.e., 20 and 50 m). Analysis and research on these image data effectively help humans to understand the Moon. In addition, impact craters are considered the most basic feature of the Moon’s surface. Statistics regarding the size and distribution of impact craters are essential for lunar geology. In existing works, however, the lunar surface has been reconstructed less accurately, and there is insufficient semantic information regarding the craters. In order to build a three-dimensional (3D) model of the Moon with crater information using Chang‘e data in the Chang‘e reference frame, we propose a four-step framework. First, software is implemented to annotate the lunar impact craters from Chang’e data by complying with our existing study on an auxiliary annotation method and open-source software LabelMe. Second, auxiliary annotation software is adopted to annotate six segments in the Chang’e data for an overall 25,250 impact crater targets. The existing but inaccurate craters are combined with our labeled data to generate a larger dataset of craters. This data set is analyzed and compared with the common detection data. Third, deep learning detection methods are employed to detect impact craters. To address the problem attributed to the resolution of Chang’e data being too high, a quadtree decomposition is conducted. Lastly, a geographic information system is used to map the DEM data to 3D space and annotate the semantic information of the impact craters. In brief, a 3D model of the Moon with crater information is implemented based on Chang’e data in the Chang‘e reference frame, which is of high significance.

Highlights

The exploration of the Moon, the development of lunar resources and the building of a lunar base have been extensively studied for their huge potential significance
Based on Chang‘e data in the Chang‘e reference frame, this study aims to build a 3D
This study suggests that the mAP on COCO is not directly related to the mAP of the impact craters, demonstrating that a network that performs well on COCO may not perform well on the impact crater dataset

Summary

Introduction

The exploration of the Moon, the development of lunar resources and the building of a lunar base have been extensively studied for their huge potential significance. The analysis of the topography of the Moon underpins the building of a lunar robot base in the future to achieve a manned Moon landing. On Earth, geologists have employed several methods (e.g., field exploration) to measure topography and landforms and investigate their distribution and evolution. By complying with physical laws, geologists can understand the structure and motion properties of topography and landforms at different scales, as well as predicting and analyzing subsequent changes. The exploration of topography and landforms is critical to human survival. Unlike research on Earth, the study of the

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