Entire Lunar Surface Research Articles

Multi-orbit lunar GNSS constellation design with distant retrograde orbit and Halo orbit combination

The Moon is the closest natural satellite to mankind, with valuable resources on it, and is an important base station for mankind to enter deep space. How to establish a reasonable lunar Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to provide real-time positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services for Moon exploration and development has become a hot topic for many international scholars. Based on the special spatial configuration characteristics of Libration point orbits (LPOs), the coverage capability of Halo orbits and Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) in LPOs is discussed and analyzed in detail. It is concluded that the Halo orbit with a period of 8 days has a better coverage effect on the lunar polar regions and the DRO has a more stable coverage effect on the lunar equatorial regions, and the multi-orbital lunar GNSS constellation with the optimized combination of DRO and Halo orbits is proposed by combining the advantages of both. This multi-orbital constellation can make up for the fact that a single type of orbit requires a larger number of satellites to fully cover the Moon, using a smaller number of satellites for the purpose of providing PNT services to the entire lunar surface. We designed simulation experiments to test whether the multi-orbital constellations meet the full lunar surface positioning requirements, and compare the coverage, positioning, and occultation effects of the four constellation designs that pass the test, and finally obtain a set of well-performing lunar GNSS constellations. The results indicate that the multi-orbital lunar GNSS constellation combining DRO and Halo orbits can cover 100% of the Moon surface, provides there are more than 4 visible satellites at any time on the Moon surface, which meets the navigation and positioning requirements, and the Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) value is stable within 2.0, which can meet the demand for higher precision Moon surface navigation and positioning.

A Generative Adversarial Network for Pixel-Scale Lunar DEM Generation from High-Resolution Monocular Imagery and Low-Resolution DEM

Digital elevation models (DEMs) provide fundamental data for scientific and engineering applications in lunar exploration missions. Lunar DEMs have been mainly generated by laser altimetry and stereophotogrammetry. Complementarity to stereo photogrammetry, reflection-based surface reconstruction methods, such as shape from shading (SFS), have been studied and applied in lunar DEM reconstruction from a single image. However, this method often suffers from solution ambiguity and instability. In this paper, we propose a generative adversarial network (GAN)-based method that is able to generate high-resolution pixel-scale DEMs from a single image aided by a low-resolution DEM. We have evaluated the accuracy of the reconstructed high-resolution DEMs from 25 LROC NAC images of four regions using LROC NAC DEMs (2 m/pixel) as ground truth. The experimental results demonstrate good accuracy and adaptability to changes in illumination conditions. The root mean square error (RMSE) can reach about 2 m in areas where the degree of elevation variation is less than 100 m, and the RMSE value ranges from around 3 m to 10 m without considering the degree of the elevation variation in large-area reconstruction. As high-resolution monocular images and low-resolution DEMs are available for the entire lunar surface, the proposed GAN-based method has great potential in high-resolution lunar DEM reconstruction for lunar mapping applications.

Topographic Degradation Processes of Lunar Crater Walls Inferred From Boulder Falls

AbstractRecent explorations by lunar orbiters have shown that boulder falls are distributed over the entire lunar surface. To quantitatively evaluate the effects of moonquakes and meteorite impacts on boulder falls, we performed detailed surveys at two sites: One in the southern part of the Schrödinger basin (Site 1) and the other in Laue crater (Site 2). Using images and topography data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and KAGUYA, we measured the detailed distributions of boulder falls, small craters, slope angles, and the optical maturity parameter (OMAT) and modeled maximum ground acceleration due to impacts at these sites. In steeply sloping areas at both sites, we found that the density of small craters was low and areas with high OMAT values corresponded to boulder sources, where many boulders exist. At Site 1, the starting points of boulder falls and ground acceleration due to impacts were correlated. In addition, craters with boulder falls at and around Site 2 were distributed independently of the presumable epicentral distance from a shallow moonquake that occurred in 1975 near Site 2, which was previously inferred to have triggered boulder falls at the site. Our results suggest that boulder falls at these sites were triggered not by moonquakes but by meteorite impacts. We propose a model for the generation and transport of boulders and regolith on slopes by meteorite impacts, which may be directly related to the degradation of crater slopes on the Moon.

MRRT: Modeling of Multiple Reflections of Radiation Between Terrains Applied on the Lunar Surface Region

The lunar surface has a stable luminosity. To use the Moon as a calibration standard, the Robotic Lunar Observatory (ROLO) program models the integration of the radiance of the entire lunar surface. However, the albedos of the mare and the highlands are very different. The modeling based on the lunar global irradiance/reflected radiance is bound to result in higher uncertainty. In contrast, if the local calibration of the lunar surface is adopted, the lunar complex topography effect cannot be ignored. This paper presents a new model for quantifying multiple reflections of radiation between terrains (MRRT). The relationship between the bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) of the observed pixel and the true microtopography reflectance is established, which shows that the BRF is mainly influenced by the true topography reflectance, the terrain undulation, the incident irradiance on the topography surface, and the masking in the observation direction. The new model applied on the lunar surface obtains clearer terrain details. The inversion reflectance of the Chang’e-3 landing area is closer to the reflectance measured in situ, and the reflectance curves of the Apollo 16 landing area are almost consistent under different illumination observation geometries. This shows that the MRRT model can effectively eliminate the topographic effect. Compared with the ROLO model, the MRRT model does not restrict the specific selection, so it can select a region with a uniform material distribution, small albedo difference, and low topography undulation to establish the lunar surface radiometric calibration field with the advantage of providing stable radiation characteristics.

Ionic Liquid-Assisted Electrochemical Extraction of Oxygen from Lunar Regolith

Among the numerous technological advances sought in order to facilitate human exploration and habitation outside of earth’s atmosphere, solutions and innovations are needed for processing local resources to support sustainable and long duration space missions. Such in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is aimed at reducing the payload mass during launch and eliminate the need for ground support for long-term missions and ultimately space colonization. One particular need for habitation and deep space exploration is the continuous supply of oxygen for life support and for propellants in the form of liquid oxygen. As mission duration is extended, the availability of a consistent supply of oxygen will become critical. The entire lunar surface is covered by regolith which is approximately 45% oxygen by mass, making it a very large reservoir. However, this oxygen is in the form of metal and mineral oxides. NASA thus recognizes the need to develop approaches to utilize this oxygen and material resource.Faraday Technology Inc. and RoCo Global are addressing this unique challenge by demonstrating the feasibility of an efficient ionic liquid-assisted electrochemical system for oxygen recovery from SiO2 that can be employed on lunar surfaces for oxygen extraction from lunar regolith. Accordingly, Faraday and RoCo Global have successfully: 1) Developed a scalable bifluoride based IL with reduced process complexity that can enable direct solubilization of SiO2; 2) Developed an experimental approach utilizing an electrochemical Liquid-Liquid-Solid (LLS) process [i],[ii] [iii] [iv] for the extraction of oxygen and deposition of Si from the solubilized SiO2 in the bifluoride based IL; 3) Demonstrated feasibility to recover oxygen and electrodeposit Si from SiO2 solubilized in bifluoride based IL electrolyte; 4) Demonstrated feasibility of reutilizing IL electrolyte for multiple SiO2 solubilization cycles; 5) Prepared a preliminary semi-continuous alpha-scale design (Figure 1). Acknowledgements: Financial support of NASA Contract 80NSSC-20-C-0338 is acknowledged.

An Improved Global Catalog of Lunar Impact Craters (≥1 km) With 3D Morphometric Information and Updates on Global Crater Analysis

AbstractImpact craters are common surface features on planetary surfaces. Their distribution offers important clues regarding geological and temporal processes on the Moon. Numerous endeavors have generated global catalogs of lunar craters; however, most of the existing catalogs only contain large craters (larger than several kilometers in diameter), and none of them offer three‐dimensional (3D) morphometric information. In this study, we first present a machine‐learning approach for automatic crater detection from digital elevation models (DEMs). Our crater detection approach can achieve a detection rate of about 85%. We also present an approach for extracting 3D morphometric information of craters based on the topography. These approaches were applied to producing a global crater data set covering the entire lunar surface that includes approximately 1.32 million craters (≥1 km). Verification was performed against previously published catalogs (Head et al., 2010, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1195050; Robbins, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018je005592), with about 23% of our craters transferred from the previous catalogs after a rim‐fitting process. The crater catalog includes 3D morphometric data on the craters such as depths. Global analyses of craters based on this improved catalog indicate that the lunar mare and highlands have distinctive crater density differences of small craters (1–5 km). Craters of 2.5–5 km have reached saturation in several local regions in the highlands. Small craters (1–5 km) on the lunar mare are deeper than those on the highlands. The data in our comprehensive crater catalog can support various other lunar scientific studies.

Number of Near-Earth Objects and Formation of Lunar Craters over the Last Billion Years

We compare the number of lunar craters larger than 15 km across and younger than 1.1 Ga to the estimates of the number of craters that could have been formed for 1.1 Ga if the number of near-Earth objects and their orbital elements during that time were close to the corresponding current values. The comparison was performed for craters over the entire lunar surface and in the region of the Oceanus Procellarum and maria on the near side of the Moon. In these estimates, we used the values of collision probabilities of near-Earth objects with the Moon and the dependences of the crater diameters on the impactor sizes. According to the estimates made by different authors, the number density of known Copernican craters with diameters D>15 km in mare regions is at least double the corresponding number for the remaining lunar surface. Our estimates do not contradict the growth in the number of near-Earth objects after probable catastrophic fragmentations of large main-belt asteroids, which may have occurred over the recent 300 Ma; however, they do not prove this increase. Particularly, they do not conflict with the inference made by Mazrouei et al. (2019) that 290 Ma ago the frequency of collisions of near-Earth asteroids with the Moon increased by 2.6 times. For a probability of a collision of an Earth-crossing object (ECO) with the Earth in a year equaled to 10^-8, our estimates of the number of craters agree with the model, according to which the number densities of the 15-km Copernican craters for the whole lunar surface would have been the same as that for mare regions if the data by Losiak et al. (2015) for D<30 km were as complete as those for D>30 km. With this collision probability of ECOs with the Earth and for this model, the cratering rate may have been constant over the recent 1.1 Ga.

The Global Distribution of Lunar Light Plains From the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera

AbstractWe present the first globally consistent map of lunar light plains from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera mosaics 100 m/pixel. Based on this map, ~70% of light plains are likely related to the Orientale and Imbrium basins; however, many light plains deposits originated with local‐ and regional‐scale impacts, nonmare volcanics (i.e., the Apennine Bench Formation), as well as ancient impact melt deposits that lack diagnostic small‐scale features. Compositional evidence suggests that the light plains associated with basins (i.e., Cayley plains) form through substantial mixing with local materials, implying that ballistic sedimentation is a primary formation mechanism. Based on the distribution of light plains with respect to the Orientale and Imbrium basins, the stratigraphic extent of an individual basin extends to at least four basin radii. As such, the South Pole‐Aitken basin modified at least 80% of the lunar surface. This work suggests that the entire lunar surface was modified to varying degrees at the time of large basin formation. This has implications for sample interpretations because any highland site within four radii of a large basin could potentially contain primary basin material or more local material that was redeposited by secondaries, neither of which is necessarily representative of the terrain upon which they are found.

Theoretical prediction on the global surface temperature map of the Moon

Several studies on lunar surface temperature have been published using temperature measurements from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE) mounted on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The recent study by Williams et al. [1] has provided a detailed temperature map of the entire lunar surface and provides a good opportunity to utilize it. Theoretically, in order to predict the lunar surface temperature, thermophysical properties of the regolith layer are indispensable. However, since the data are limited to those taken at the landing site, a new method is necessary to generate the global temperature map. In this study, a theoretical method to calculate temperature on the global lunar surface was proposed with comparable accuracy to the DLRE measurements without utilizing such thermophysical properties. The energy equation of the Lumped System Model (LSM) for the very thin uppermost lunar regolith layer was established, and the mathematical formulation of the bottom conductive heat flux required to solve the LSM equation was proposed using the appropriate theory. Based on recent work on the DLRE, the LSM equation was analyzed, assuming that thermal mass per unit area, which is only one integral thermophysical property of the LSM, is globally homogeneous over the Moon. The thermal mass per unit area and the coefficients of the suggested bottom conductive heat flux were extracted from DLRE measurements and optimized through best curve fitting to DLRE measurements. The temperatures predicted by LSM are reasonably accurate, and the mean temperature difference from the DLRE measurements in latitudes equatorward of 70° is only 3.15 K. The global surface temperature map reproduced by the LSM analysis is a good match with the map extracted from DLRE measurements, except in anomalous temperature zones caused by surface topology and rock abundance.

Impact Ejecta and Gardening in the Lunar Polar Regions

AbstractThe Moon is continually bombarded by interplanetary meteoroids. While many of the meteoroid sources are near the ecliptic plane, a significant population of high‐inclination meteoroids exists at 1 au that bombards the lunar polar regions. Building on previous measurements of the response of the lunar impact ejecta cloud to known meteoroid sources, we develop an ejecta model for the entire lunar surface by incorporating the high‐inclination sources. We find that the polar regions of the Moon experience similar quantities of impact ejecta production as the equator. Due to the enhanced impactor fluxes near the equator and at high latitudes on the dawn side, lunar regolith is preferentially distributed to the mid to high‐latitude regions over long timescales, providing a pathway to mix regolith from different regions. We find impact ejecta yields at the Moon to be significantly lower than the Galilean moons, suggesting meteoroids deliver more energy to the local regolith and can be an important driver in the evolution of volatiles near the lunar surface. Additionally, we find that a polar orbiting spacecraft equipped with a dust analyzer can measure appreciable quantities of lunar ejecta near the poles to constrain the water content in the polar regions.

Back-projecting secondary craters using a cone of uncertainty

In this paper we present an extension to the Large Crater Clustering (LCC) tool set which places a cone of uncertainty around the trajectories of secondary impact craters to determine potential locations of source craters. The LCC tool set was a first step in the spatial quantification of primary and secondary cratering processes, which allows planetary geologists to accurately estimate the geologic age of a celestial surface. This work builds on the LCC tool set by accounting for the ambiguity of flight path trajectories through a Python script that leverages ArcGIS's ArcPy library. We chronicle the mechanics of the script, which creates geodetically correct cones then counts them within equally sized cells of a vector grid. We describe the process that was used to derive the shape of the cone and provide parameters for the sizes of the cones and the grid. We demonstrate that the cone of uncertainty has the ability to compensate for error in secondary crater trajectories by introducing deviation in the trajectory bearing and comparing the predicted primary crater location. We use two study areas on Mars as well as the entire lunar surface to illustrate the usefulness of the extension as an aid to human interpretation of back-projections.

Lunar reconnaissance orbiter wide angle camera algorithm for TiO2 abundances on the lunar surface, including the highlands and low-ti maria

A new algorithm is proposed for estimating TiO2 abundance on the moon using lunar reflectance values measured by the Wide Angle Camera on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The algorithm provides useful values for mature regoliths on the entire lunar surface including highlands and low titanium maria. However, it underestimates the abundances of immature regoliths, so that the algorithm returns a lower limit for such features as young craters and rays.

Interactions between complex craters and the lunar crust: Analysis using GRAIL data

AbstractA high‐resolution gravity map over the entire lunar surface has been derived from data acquired by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission. Soderblom et al. (2015) showed that crater Bouguer gravity anomalies scale with crater diameter and porosity for craters in the lunar highlands. Here we extend this study globally, examining complex craters in each of the three lunar terranes: highlands, maria, and the South Pole‐Aitken basin. We find that craters within South Pole‐Aitken basin and in the lunar maria have statistically different Bouguer anomalies from those in the lunar highlands. These differences are best explained by differences in crustal porosity among the three terranes. Though there is still much unresolved scatter in the data, we find that no other lunar material properties (crustal thickness, density gradient, etc.) are able to improve our model fit to the data.

Investigation of Reflectance Distribution and Trend for the Double Ray Located in the Northwest of Tycho Crater

Analysis of lunar samples returned by the US Apollo missions revealed that the lunar highlands consist of anorthosite, plagioclase, pyroxene, and olivine; also, the lunar maria are composed of materials such as basalt and ilmenite. More recently, the remote sensing approach has enabled reduction of the time required to investigate the entire lunar surface, compared to the approach of returning samples. Moreover, remote sensing has also made it possible to determine the existence of specific minerals and to examine wide areas. In this paper, an investigation was performed on the reflectance distribution and its trend. The results were applied to the example of the double ray stretched in parallel lines from the Tycho crater to the third-quadrant of Mare Nubium. Basic research and background information for the investigation of lunar surface characteristics is also presented. For this research, resources aboard the SELenological and ENgineering Explorer (SELENE), a Japanese lunar probe, were used. These included the Multiband Imager (MI) in the Lunar Imager / Spectrometer (LISM). The data of these instruments were edited through the toolkit, an image editing and analysis tool, Exelis Visual Information Solution (ENVI).

Morphometric, rheological and compositional analysis of an effusive lunar dome using high resolution remote sensing data sets: A case study from Marius hills region

Domes, an analog of the terrestrial shield volcanoes are one of the important volcanic features found on the lunar surface. Such volcanic features are windows to better understanding of the contrasting natures of lunar volcanism, giving an insight into the source and the nature of the basaltic magmas. Marius Hills Complex is one of the most important regions in the entire lunar surface for having a complex setting of volcanic constructs with an abundant number of volcanic features like domes, cones and rilles. As a part of initiation of the study of Marius Hills volcanism, an effusive dome located to the south of Rima Galilaei, near the contact of Imbrian and Eratosthenian geological units is taken for the present study. Inferring from the Terrain Mapping Camera-Digital Elevation Model (TMC-DEM), the morphometric parameters are estimated (350m in height,9.62km in diameter), and accordingly the rheological parameters are also estimated. As the signatures of multiphase eruption are not clear geomorphologically and also in topography, the dome is assumed to evolved in monogenetic eruption. The causative dike parameters of the dome are estimated, which gives upper bounds of true values of the parameters. The estimated feeder dike length (150km) and width (233m) implies that the source region is lying most probably in the mantle portion of moon. The crater size frequency distribution (CSFD) is applied to determine the age of the particular dome and also the surrounding mare surface so as to better construct a stratigraphic correlation. It is found that dome belongs to oldest age unit of Marius Hills region while the surrounding units are relatively younger. Using Chandrayaan-I Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) data, the surface composition for the study area is also analysed. Thus, the morphometry, rheology, dike parameters, age determination and mineralogy are found to be in good agreement with results of the earlier studies. Such a study, covering all the domes and other volcanic features in Marius Hills using high resolution data sets will provide a clear and better understanding of the volcanic history of the region and the Oceanus Procellarum Basin as well. In such a study, the application potential of high resolution Chandrayaan-I TMC image and its DEM generated from the stereo data has been useful.

A new lunar global DEM derived from Chang’E-1 Laser Altimeter data based on crossover adjustment with local topographic constraint

This paper presents a crossover adjustment method with local topographic constraint and a new lunar global digital elevation model (DEM) derived from Chang’E-1Laser Altimeter (LAM) data based on the crossover adjustment. With about 9.12 million altimetric points acquired by the LAM, we derived more than 141,000 crossovers that cover the entire lunar surface after eliminating outliers of orbits and altimetric points. The global lunar surface is divided into 32 local blocks, and the least squares adjustment of crossover differences is performed for each block using the local topographic constraint information extracted from the planar areas. Smooth transitions among the neighbouring blocks are ensured through sufficient overlapping areas and virtual control points from the planar areas. After the crossover adjustment, root mean square (RMS) of the residuals is reduced from 149.51m to 54.75m after using three parameters for each profile in each block in the mid-latitude region. In polar regions, RMS is reduced from more than 150m to less than 100m after using seven parameters for each profile. The resulting lunar global DEM has a significantly improved quality in the local consistencies, i.e. artefacts in the original DEM are eliminated or decreased. The new lunar global DEM is also compared with the laser altimeter data from NASA's LRO mission and JAXA's KAGUYA mission. After comparison, the result shows that the DEMs are consistent and that adjustment does not deform the lunar terrain.

Band‐limited Bouguer gravity identifies new basins on the Moon

Spectral domain forward modeling is used to generate topography‐implied gravity for the Moon using data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter instrument operated on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. This is subtracted from Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE)‐derived gravity to generate band‐limited Bouguer gravity maps of the Moon so as to enhance the gravitational signatures of anomalous mass densities nearer the surface. This procedure adds evidence that two previously postulated basins on the lunar farside, Fitzgerald‐Jackson (25°N, 191°E) and to the east of Debye (50°N, 180°E), are indeed real. When applied over the entire lunar surface, band‐limited Bouguer gravity reveals the locations of 280 candidate basins that have not been identified when using full‐spectrum gravity or topography alone, showing the approach to be of utility. Of the 280 basins, 66 are classified as distinct from their band‐limited Bouguer gravity and topographic signatures, making them worthy of further investigation.

On the possibility of lunar core phase detection using new seismometers for soft-landers in future lunar missions

Information on the lunar central core; size, current state and composition; are key parameters to understand the origin and evolution of the Moon. Recent studies have indicated that possible seismic energies of core-reflected phases can be identified from past Apollo seismic data, and core sizes are determined, but we have still uncertainties to establish the lunar core parameters. We, therefore, plan to detect seismic phases that pass through the interior of the core and/or those reflected from the core–mantle boundary to ensure the parameters using new seismometers for future lunar soft-landing missions such as SELENE-2 and Farside Explorer projects.As the new seismometers, we can apply two types of sensors already developed; they are the Very Broad Band (VBB) seismometer and Short Period (SP) seismometer. We first demonstrate through waveform simulations that the new seismometers are able to record the lunar seismic events with S/N much better than Apollo seismometers. Then, expected detection numbers of core-phases on the entire lunar surface for the two types of seismometers are evaluated for two models of seismic moment distributions of deep moonquakes using the recent interior model (VPREMOON).The evaluation indicates that the VBB has performance to detect reflected S phases (ScS) from the core–mantle boundary mainly on the lunar near-side, and the P phases (PKP) passing through the interior of the core on some areas of the lunar far-side. Then, the SP can also detect PKP phases as first arrival seismic phase on limited regions on the lunar far-side. If appropriate positions of the seismic stations are selected, core-phases can be detected, allowing us to constrain the origin and evolution of the Moon with future lunar soft-landing missions.

CROSSOVER ANALYSIS OF CHANG'E-1 LASER ALTIMETER DATA

Abstract. This paper presents a preliminary result of crossover analysis and adjustment of Chang'E-1(CE-1) Laser Altimeter (LAM) data of the Moon for global and regional mapping applications. During the operation of Chang'E-1 from November 28, 2007 to December 4, 2008, the laser altimeter acquired 1400 orbital profiles with about 9.12 million altimetric points. In our experiment, we derived more than 1.38 million crossovers from 1395 ground tracks covering the entire lunar surface after eliminating outliers of orbits and altimetric points. A method of least-squares crossover adjustment with a series of basis functions of time (trigonometric functions and polynomials) is developed to reconcile the LAM data by minimizing the crossover residuals globally. The normal equations are very large but sparse; therefore they are stored and solved using sparse matrix technique. In a test area (0°N~60°N, 50°W~0°W), the crossover residuals are reduced from 62.1m to 32.8m, and the quality of the DEM generated from the adjusted LAM data is improved accordingly. We will optimize the method for the global adjustment to generate a high precision consistent global DEM, which can be used as absolute control for lunar mapping with orbital images.

GLD100: The near‐global lunar 100 m raster DTM from LROC WAC stereo image data

We derived near‐global lunar topography from stereo image data acquired by the Wide‐angle Camera (WAC) of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) system. From polar orbit tracks, the LROC WAC provides image data with a mean ground resolution at nadir of 75 m/pixel with substantial cross‐track stereo overlap. WAC stereo images from the one‐year nominal mission and the first months of the science mission phase are combined to produce a near‐global digital terrain model (DTM) with a pixel spacing of 100 m, the Global Lunar DTM 100 m, or “GLD100.” It covers 79°S to 79°N latitudes, 98.2% of the entire lunar surface. We compare the GLD100 with results from previous stereo and altimetry‐based products, particularly with the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) altimetry, which is the current topographic reference for the Moon. We describe typical characteristics of the GLD100 and, based upon the comparison to the LOLA data set, assess its vertical and lateral resolution and accuracy. We conclude that the introduced first version of the stereo‐based GLD100 is a valuable topographic representation of the lunar surface, complementary to the LOLA altimetry data set. Further improvements can be expected from continuative investigations.