Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Remote Sensing Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Applied to Deep Space Exploration

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 October 2024 | Viewed by 3587

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Bin Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: planetary remote sensing; photogrammetry

Dr. Mao Ye

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Interests: planetary geodesy; planetary remote sensing; gravity field

Dr. Philipp Gläser

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Institut für Geodäsie und Geoinformationstechnik, Technische Universität Berlin, Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 104, 10553 Berlin, Germany
Interests: cartography; geodesy and surveying; remote sensing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Deep space exploration is at the forefront of scientific and technological development. Many countries and institutions have successfully implemented various deep space exploration missions, such as Lunar, Mars, and asteroid exploration, and will continue to carry out exploration missions in the future, including manned lunar exploration, lunar scientific research stations and manned Mars exploration. Remote sensing and photogrammetry play a crucial role in supporting these major tasks, which include global or key area mapping, mineral inversion, landing site selection, landing point positioning, and rover navigation and positioning.

This Special Issue aims to present and exchange studies focusing on the application of remote sensing and photogrammetry in deep space exploration in recent years. Topics may cover anything from lunar and planetary remote sensing mapping to morphological analysis, lunar and planetary spectral analysis and superficial physical property inversion, estimations of the lunar and planetary gravity field and internal structure, lunar and planetary space–time reference, and navigation positioning. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

lunar and planetary remote sensing;
lunar and planetary mapping;
lunar and planetary photogrammetry;
lunar and planetary geodesy;
lunar and planetary reference frames;
lunar and planetary surface navigation and positioning.

Dr. Bin Liu
Dr. Mao Ye
Dr. Philipp Gläser
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

moon
Mars
remote sensing
photogrammetry
planetary mapping
planetary geodesy

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Other

19 pages, 12576 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Mars Local Terrain Matching Method Based on 3D Point Clouds

by Binliang Wang, Shuangming Zhao, Xinyi Guo and Guorong Yu

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(9), 1620; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs16091620 - 30 Apr 2024

Viewed by 373

Abstract

To address the matching challenge between the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) DEM, we propose a terrain matching framework based on the combination of point cloud coarse alignment and fine alignment methods. Firstly, we achieved global coarse localization of the HiRISE DEM through nearest neighbor matching of key Intrinsic Shape Signatures (ISS) points in the Fast Point Feature Histograms (FPFH) feature space. We introduced a graph matching strategy to mitigate gross errors in feature matching, employing a numerical method of non-cooperative game theory to solve the extremal optimization problem under Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions. Secondly, to handle the substantial resolution disparities between the MOLA DEM and HiRISE DEM, we devised a smoothing weighting method tailored to enhance the Voxelized Generalized Iterative Closest Point (VGICP) approach for fine terrain registration. This involves leveraging the Euclidean distance between distributions to effectively weight loss and covariance, thereby reducing the results’ sensitivity to voxel radius selection. Our experiments show that the proposed algorithm improves the accuracy of terrain registration on the proposed Curiosity landing area’s, Mawrth Vallis, data by nearly 20%, with faster convergence and better algorithm robustness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Applied to Deep Space Exploration)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 15307 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Interactive Rendering for Rovers of Lunar Polar Region and Martian Surface

by Jiehao Bi, Ang Jin, Chi Chen and Shen Ying

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(7), 1270; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs16071270 - 4 Apr 2024

Viewed by 597

Abstract

Appropriate environmental sensing methods and visualization representations are crucial foundations for the in situ exploration of planets. In this paper, we developed specialized visualization methods to facilitate the rover’s interaction and decision-making processes, as well as to address the path-planning and obstacle-avoidance requirements for lunar polar region exploration and Mars exploration. To achieve this goal, we utilize simulated lunar polar regions and Martian environments. Among them, the lunar rover operating in the permanently shadowed region (PSR) of the simulated crater primarily utilizes light detection and ranging (LiDAR) for environmental sensing; then, we reconstruct a mesh using the Poisson surface reconstruction method. After that, the lunar rover’s traveling environment is represented as a red-green-blue (RGB) image, a slope coloration image, and a theoretical water content coloration image, based on different interaction needs and scientific objectives. For the rocky environment where the Mars rover is traveling, this paper enhances the display of the rocks on the Martian surface. It does so by utilizing depth information of the rock instances to highlight their significance for the rover’s path-planning and obstacle-avoidance decisions. Such an environmental sensing and enhanced visualization approach facilitates rover path-planning and remote–interactive operations, thereby enabling further exploration activities in the lunar PSR and Mars, in addition to facilitating the study and communication of specific planetary science objectives, and the production and display of basemaps and thematic maps. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Applied to Deep Space Exploration)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 23254 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Illumination Conditions in the Lunar South Polar Region Using Multi-Temporal High-Resolution Orbital Images

by Yifan Zhang, Bin Liu, Kaichang Di, Shaoran Liu, Zongyu Yue, Shaojin Han, Jia Wang, Wenhui Wan and Bin Xie

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(24), 5691; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs15245691 - 11 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1029

Abstract

The illumination conditions of the lunar south pole region are complex due to the rugged terrain and very low solar elevation angles, posing significant challenges to the safety of lunar landing and rover explorations. High-spatial and temporal-resolution analyses of the illumination conditions in the south pole region are essential to support mission planning and surface operations. This paper proposes a method for illumination condition analysis in the lunar pole region using multi-temporal high-resolution orbital images with a pre-selected landing area of Chang’E-7 as the study area. Firstly, a database of historical multi-temporal high-resolution (0.69–1.97 m/pixel) orbital images, with associated image acquisition time, solar elevation angle, and azimuth angle, is established after preprocessing and registration. Secondly, images with the nearest solar elevation and azimuth at the planned time for mission operations are retrieved from the database for subsequent illumination condition analysis and exploration support. The differences in the actual solar positions at the mission moments from that of the nearest sun position image are calculated and their impact on illumination conditions is evaluated. Experimental results of the study area demonstrate that the constructed image database and the proposed illumination analysis method using multi-temporal images, with the assistance of DEM in a small number of cases, can effectively support the mission planning and operations for the Chang’E-7 mission in the near future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Applied to Deep Space Exploration)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research

16 pages, 12796 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Current Status of the Community Sensor Model Standard for the Generation of Planetary Digital Terrain Models

by Trent M. Hare, Randolph L. Kirk, Michael T. Bland, Donna M. Galuszka, Jason R. Laura, David P. Mayer, Bonnie L. Redding and Benjamin H. Wheeler

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(4), 648; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs16040648 - 9 Feb 2024

Viewed by 992

Abstract

The creation of accurate elevation models (topography) from stereo images are critical for a large variety of geospatial activities, including the production of digital orthomosaics, change detection, landing site analysis, geologic mapping, rover traverse planning, and spectral analysis. The United Stated Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, continues to transition the supported planetary sensor models to the Community Sensor Model (CSM) standard. This paper describes the current state of use for this photogrammetric standard, supported sensor model types, and qualitatively compares derived topography between SOCET SET and SOCET GXP (^®BAE Systems) using HiRISE stereo images of Mars. Our transition to the CSM standard will ensure an uninterrupted capability to make these valuable products for Mars and many other extraterrestrial planets and moons. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Applied to Deep Space Exploration)

► Show Figures