Scientists have developed enhancements to the shape-from-shading technique, greatly improving the efficiency and accuracy of mapping the Moon’s surface. This innovation aids mission planners by providing more detailed maps, particularly for challenging terrains like the lunar south pole. This oblique view featuring International Astronomical Union Crater 302 on the Moon’s surface was photographed by the Apollo 10 astronauts in May of 1969.
“It helps us piece together a better idea of what is actually there,” said Boatwright, a postdoctoral researcher in Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences and lead author of the new paper. “We need to understand the surface topography of the Moon where there isn’t as much light, like the shadowed areas of the lunar south pole where’s Artemis missions are targeting.
The researchers also implemented quality control algorithms and additional filters to reduce outliers from the alignment process — tools to ensure the aligned images actually match and remove images that don’t align as well. By only selecting images that end up being usable, this improves quality and takes precision down to submeter resolutions. The speed also allows for larger surface areas to be examined, increasing the production of these maps.
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