Lingli Mu

Reconstructing the landing trajectory of the CE-3 lunar probe by using images from the landing camera

An accurate determination of the landing trajectory of Chang’e-3 (CE-3) is significant for verifying orbital control strategy, optimizing orbital planning, accurately determining the landing site of CE-3 and analyzing the geological background of the landing site. Due to complexities involved in the landing process, there are some differences between the planned trajectory and the actual trajectory of CE-3. The landing camera on CE-3 recorded a sequence of the landing process with a frequency of 10 frames per second. These images recorded by the landing camera and high-resolution images of the lunar surface are utilized to calculate the position of the probe, so as to reconstruct its precise trajectory. This paper proposes using the method of trajectory reconstruction by Single Image Space Resection to make a detailed study of the hovering stage at a height of 100 m above the lunar surface. Analysis of the data shows that the closer CE-3 came to the lunar surface, the higher the spatial resolution of images that were acquired became, and the more accurately the horizontal and vertical position of CE-3 could be determined. The horizontal and vertical accuracies were 7.09 m and 4.27 m respectively during the hovering stage at a height of 100.02 m. The reconstructed trajectory can reflect the change in CE-3’s position during the powered descent process. A slight movement in CE-3 during the hovering stage is also clearly demonstrated. These results will provide a basis for analysis of orbit control strategy, and it will be conducive to adjustment and optimization of orbit control strategy in follow-up missions.

A new lunar absolute control point： established by images from the landing camera on Chang＇e-3

The establishment of a lunar control network is one of the core tasks in selenodesy, in which defining an absolute control point on the Moon is the most important step. However, up to now, the number of absolute control points has been very sparse. These absolute control points have mainly been lunar laser ranging retroreflectors, whose geographical location can be observed by observations on Earth and also identified in high resolution lunar satellite images. The Chang’e-3 (CE-3) probe successfully landed on the Moon, and its geographical location has been monitored by an observing station on Earth. Since its positional accuracy is expected to reach the meter level, the CE-3 landing site can become a new high precision absolute control point. We use a sequence of images taken from the landing camera, as well as satellite images taken by CE-1 and CE-2, to identify the location of the CE-3 lander. With its geographical location known, the CE-3 landing site can be established as a new absolute control point, which will effectively expand the current area of the lunar absolute control network by 22%, and can greatly facilitate future research in the field of lunar surveying and mapping, as well as selenodesy.

Time series data correction for the Chang'E-1 gamma-ray spectrometer

The main goal of the gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) onboard Chang’E- 1 (CE-1) is to acquire global maps of elemental abundances and their distributions on the moon, since such maps will significantly improve our understanding of lunar formation and evolution. To derive the elemental maps and enable research on lunar formation and evolution, raw data that are received directly from the spacecraft must be converted into time series corrected gamma-ray spectra. The data correction procedures for the CE-1 GRS time series data are thoroughly described. The processing procedures to create the time series gamma-ray spectra described here include channel processing, optimal data selection, energy calibration, gain correction, dead time correction, geometric correction, orbit altitude normalization, eliminating unusable data and galactic cosmic ray correction. Finally, descriptions are also given on data measurement uncertainties, which will help the interested scientists to understand and estimate various uncertainties associated with the above data processing.

Chinese and Russian Language Equivalents of the IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: an Overview of Planetary Toponym Localization Methods

ABSTRACT The Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature (GPN) is maintained by the International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. It contains the internationally approved forms of place names of planetary and lunar surface features. In the last decades, spacefaring and other nations have started to develop local standardized equivalents of the GPN. This initiated the development of transformation methods and created a need for auxiliary information on the names in the GPN that is not available from the database of the GPN. The creation of ‘localized’ (local language) variants of the GPN in non-Roman scripts is an unavoidable necessity, but is also a cultural need. This paper investigates the localization methods into Chinese and Russian; two nations with different scripts, and two that are spacefaring ones. The need for the creation of a localized GPN is related to the local importance of scientific papers published in the local language and the existence of locally developed and operated scientific planetary spacecraft, but exceptions exist.

Setting Diverging Colors for a Large-Scale Hypsometric Lunar Map Based on Entropy

A hypsometric map is a type of map used to represent topographic characteristics by filling different map areas with diverging colors. The setting of appropriate diverging colors is essential for the map to reveal topographic details. When lunar real environmental exploration programs are performed, large-scale hypsometric maps with a high resolution and greater topographic detail are helpful. Compared to the situation on Earth, fewer lunar exploration objects are available, and the topographic waviness is smaller at a large scale, indicating that presenting the topographic details using traditional hypsometric map-making methods may be difficult. To solve this problem, we employed the Chang’E2 (CE2) topographic and imagery data with a resolution of 7 m and developed a new hypsometric map-making method by setting the diverging colors based on information entropy. The resulting map showed that this method is suitable for presenting the topographic details and might be useful for developing a better understanding of the environment of the lunar surface.