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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER – Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover: Mission Overview

VIPER is a low cost, lunar volatiles detection and measurement mission that will be delivered to the lunar south pole by one of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services partners and will characterize the nature of the volatiles in the area and extrapolate this data to create global lunar water resource maps. It will be the first mining expedition on another world while simultaneously addressing fundamental planetary science questions. Prospecting for lunar water at the poles is the next step in understanding the resource potential and addressing key theories about water emplacement and retention. It now appears that potentially economically significant amounts of water ice exists at the poles of the Moon, however, the distribution of this water is still not understood at a level sufficient to fully evaluate economic models. The water ice (and other potential volatiles), the “ore body”, needs to be understood at the scales of 10s to 100s of meters to evaluate localization, extraction and processing techniques. To accomplish this, VIPER will survey permanently-shadowed regions, semi-permanent shadowed regions, and even semi and full sunlit areas in order to have a comprehensive survey of polar region volatiles, to best inform future mission architectures. In order to characterize the volatiles, a payload suite consisting of a neutron spectrometer, mass spectrometer, near infrared spectrometer and a 1-meter drill will be hosted on the VIPER mobile lunar rover platform. Since VIPER is a relatively low cost, schedule-constrained, risk-tolerant mission, there are architectural limitations that require unique mission planning constraints to enable exploration of the lunar south pole region. These regions offer unique challenges such as uncertain terrain conditions, rock and crater hazards, lunar dust, multipath communications effects, extreme thermal environments and multiple overlapping planning constraints. Mission design/traverse planning, system design capabilities and mission operations are all highly linked through initial development phases. We will describe the current mission overview and the unique approaches taken by the VIPER project based on our programmatic framework and unique mission environment.

VIPER↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Autonomous Lunar PNT Simulator (ALPS)

In this paper we present a simulation tool that has been used to develop an architecture for a low-cost Position, Navigation and Time (PNT) system to provide PNT services on and around the Moon using non-dedicated low-cost orbital and ground assets. The simulation tool has been developed to be flexible and is capable of modeling and analyzing the many different capabilities and configurations that the non-dedicated assets could support. The tool models the creation of an ad hoc swarm, the localization of this swarm and the subsequent provision of PNT services from this swarm. We present results from several studies of select configurations chosen to reflect existing and future real-world needs and capabilities. Over the next few decades there is expected to be a substantial increase in Lunar missions supporting and inspired by NASA’s Artemis Program. It is expected that a large fraction of these missions will be low cost, utilizing rideshares and CubeSats, just as has seen in Earth orbit over the past decade. Many of these missions will need navigation capabilities but may be unable to support the large power, mass and weight that a weak GNSS or DSN based navigation solution would entail. As Lunar PNT service demand is not likely to be needed over the entire lunar surface 24/7, the creation of a dedicated Lunar GNSS constellation cannot be justified. Hence, our proposed architecture envisions utilizing existing Lunar science and exploration assets to create ad hoc and on demand Lunar PNT swarms capable of providing PNT services to low cost missions. The simulation reflects the two distinct parts of the architecture: the creation of a Lunar PNT swarm using non-dedicated existing assets, and the quantitative modeling of the quality of the PNT services that this swarm provides. To support the former, the simulation supports various swarm localization techniques, including centralized and distributed EKFs both of which support pluggable dynamics models. In modeling the PNT service performance the simulation adopts standard techniques from the GNSS community, including providing degree of precision (DOP) estimates for theoretical end users. Crucially, all asset capabilities, including clock accuracy, independent location self-knowledge and timing measurement precision can be set independently for each asset, reflecting the key concept of utilizing non-dedicated assets. The simulation is predominantly implemented in MATLAB, with GMAT being used for the propagation of orbital assets. The paper will present results from the simulation reflecting the tool’s flexibility and focusing on scenarios that match real-world proposed missions, including scenarios designed to provide PNT support to lunar surface missions similar to NASA Ames' forthcoming VIPER mission. The performance of centralized and decentralized swarm configuration and localization techniques will be compared. Finally, performance of the PNT service provided by an autonomous Lunar PNT swarm will be compared to existing radiometric and weak GNSS methods.

Kelley Elizabeth Hashemi↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Science, Exploration and the Human Experience.

Dr. Darlene S. Lim is a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, and the Deputy Project Scientist and Science Operations Lead for NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) Lunar Mission. The VIPER lunar rover mission is a mobile robot that will go to the South Pole of the Moon to get a close-up view of the location and concentration of water ice that could eventually be harvested to sustain human exploration on the Moon, Mars — and beyond. VIPER represents the first resource mapping mission on another celestial body and presents a unique operational paradigm within the history of robotic spaceflight. Throughout her career, Darlene has led several NASA-funded programs that have been focused on blending field science research with the development of capabilities and concepts for future human-robotic spaceflight to the Moon and Mars. These research activities have taken her around the world, from pole to pole, land to sea, and to many lakes in between, where she has studied life in extreme environments, the way people conduct science, and how they need to be supported in their work of discovery and exploration. At the center of each of these endeavors is the human - the person who must interact with others, with technology, and with the environment of interest, to apply the scientific method towards the accrual and expansion of knowledge about the planet that we live on and beyond. Darlene has been working with teams of scientists and engineers from a variety of disciplines to hone her understanding of the process by which their interactions and research needs can be supported and enabled under intense operational conditions such as those associated with Moon and Mars exploration. Darlene’s presentation will take the audience through the arc of her research over the past two decades culminating in her on-going work with the NASA VIPER lunar rover mission.

Darlene Sze Shien Lim↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover

The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will land in the southern polar region of the Moon and spend approximately 100-days prospecting for water ice. The information returned by VIPER will help determine how we can harvest the Moon's resources for future human space exploration. This information will also provide insight into the distribution and origin of water and other volatiles across the solar system. In this short talk, I will provide a brief overview of the VIPER mission, discuss some of the unique design features of the VIPER rover, and summarize VIPER's multi-modal operations approach.

lunar robotics↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER: Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover

We will review the technical components of the NASA lunar rover mission, VIPER, with a focus on software components that rely on ROS 2 and Gazebo. We’ll start with an overview of the hardware and software components. Next, we’ll explore some of the custom Gazebo plugins for simulating the rover and the lunar surface. We’ll describe a fault injection framework that was built on ROS 2 parameters and how it is used to simulate hardware faults. Finally, we’ll see how ROS 2 is used as part of the rover ground software.

Jacob Michael Perron↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) Near Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS).

NASA’s VIPER mission is planned for delivery to the lunar surface in late 2023 [1]. VIPER’s science objectives are to: 1) characterize the distribution and physical state of lunar polar water and other volatiles in lunar cold traps and regolith to under-stand their origin and 2) provide the data necessary for NASA to evaluate the potential return of relying upon in-situ resource utilization from the lunar polar regions [1]. The NIRVSS instrument, matured through several R&D programs to TRL 6 [2,3,4], has been chosen as part of the VIPER science payload [5].

T. L. Roush↗
NASA NTRS2020

Evaluation of Performance, Fatigue and Workload during Real-time, Reactive Telerobotic Mission Control Operations

Telerobotic operations involve a user operating a robot from a different location from where the activity is taking place. It can be difficult for humans to maintain performance when faced with physiological stressors, such as fatigue or illness. Operations require vigilance for extended periods, raising safety concerns surrounding operator’s fatigue and workload. Every hour of wakefulness increases the drive to sleep, causing decreased reaction time (RT), increased lapses in attention (RT > 500 ms), and decreased memory capability. The NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) was created to evaluate the multiple attributes surrounding workload (e.g., mental and physical demands). The upcoming Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission involves remotely controlling a lunar vehicle from an Earth-based mission control station. The goal of VIPER is to excavate the moon for volatiles (water) deep in the surface near the South Pole for a 100-day, continuous operation.

Fatigue↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Moon’s Shadowed Regions

The Moon poles host large quantities of water-ice deposits in the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), which are vital for enabling sustainable human space exploration, making these regions high-priority targets for upcoming Artemis missions [1]. Unfortunately, today, the best available orbital lunar imagery [2, 3] lacks the meter-scale resolution and signal needed to understand the geomorphology and trafficability of PSRs, complicating the planning and execution of future missions seeking to explore PSRs. We have developed an image enhancement tool called HORUS (Hyper-effective nOise Removal Unet Software) [4, 5], designed to enhance LRO Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC) optical low-light imagery of permanently shadowed regions by effectively removing the CCD-related, photon, and other residual noises that corrupt the images. The tool is composed of two deep learning neural networks trained on environmental metadata and real and synthetic imagery, the latter generated by a physical noise model (LROC). We demonstrated that HORUS effectively produces low-noise, high-resolution images (~1.5m/px), achieving a 5 to 10x improvement over existing long-exposure images of PSRs. HORUS allows scientists and engineers to identify geomorphic features (e.g., craters and boulders) in shadowed regions as small as 3 meters across as well as to peek inside of small shadowed regions, for the first time. The tool was deployed and thoroughly validated for NASA's VIPER mission [6], where it was applied to 20 candidate target regions across the lunar South Pole. Additionally, we conducted different approaches to validate the resulting HORUS-processed images. With HORUS denoised images, VIPER scientists can increase their confidence on what surface features (previously unseen) exist in the shadowed regions, helping them plan rover traverses more safely and efficiently (e.g., Fig. 1) In this manuscript, we will describe how VIPER scientists are utilizing HORUS denoised images to extract new information from the terrain and increase their confidence in what surface features exist in the shadowed regions. In combination with other high-resolution images and digital elevation maps, HORUS images are helping the team analyze potential lading and science sites, as well as planning traverses more safely and efficiently (e.g., Fig. 1). Additionally, we will describe how HORUS tool unlocks a broad range of scientific and exploration applications to other Artemis and CPLS missions to the lunar poles, including (but not limited to) geomorphic analysis, change detection, surface hazard detection, and terrain relative navigation.

artificial intelligence↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Simulated Lunar Gravity Testing of VIPER Loop Heat Pipe

NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission consists of a rover designed to explore the lunar south pole. One of the main challenges faced by the rover during the lunar polar exploration is the adverse thermal environment. Temperatures can fluctuate more than a 100°C between day and night; potentially dropping to −246°C in permanent shadow regions. To maintain the rover components within temperature limits, VIPER’s Thermal Management System (TMS) relies heavily on Loop Heat Pipes (LHPs). To assist the design of the thermal management system, an Engineering Design Unit (EDU) LHP has been tested in several opportunities under thermal vacuum (TVAC) environment. Of particular interest was the LHP performance in lunar gravity. To that end, the EDU LHP was tested at the nominal orientation within the rover assembly, vertical, and inclined such that the gravitational component acting on the LHP evaporator and condenser was 1/6g (lunar gravity is 1/6 of Earth gravity) when compared to the vertical configuration. This paper will examine the LHP conductance as one the key parameters to assess the effect of the gravity on the LHP performance.

Loop Heat Pipe↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of Performance, Fatigue and Workload During Real-time, Reactive Telerobotic Mission Control Operations

Real-time, reactive telerobotic mission control operations require personnel to actively operate and manage remotely controlled vehicles or robots in real time. Due to the physical separation of the vehicle from the operator, such operations present many additional factors that can influence fatigue (i.e., degraded mental performance) and workload (i.e., mental and physical cost of task requirements), making it difficult to assess how long an individual can safely and accurately conduct operations. The upcoming Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission involves remotely controlling a lunar vehicle from an Earth-based mission control station. METHODS: In order to determine how long personnel could successfully maintain alertness and performance while operating a rover, we studied seven trained operators (i.e., 5 drivers, 2 real-time scientists) in a simulated mission control environment. We further assessed workload in order to determine whether perceived workload levels would change relative to time on task and by time of day. Operators completed two five-hour simulations in a randomized order, beginning at noon and at midnight. Performance was evaluated every 30 minutes using the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), and NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). RESULTS: On average, participants rated themselves as sleepier (5.06 ± 2.28) on the night drives compared to the day drives (3.12 ± 1.44; P < .0001). Workload was rated higher during the day drives (37.93 ± 20.09) compared to night (32.09 ± 21.74; P < .01). Lastly, participants had no change in average reaction time between the two drives. CONCLUSIONS: From the analysis, we observed performance began to degrade after approximately three hours of driving. Our findings suggest that rotating drivers at least every three hours would be prudent to allow for breaks, and to minimize performance degradation, particularly during night shifts.

fatigue↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lunar Science Investigations and Exploration in Celestial Mapping System

Introduction: As NASA expands the mission portfolio on the lunar surface, there is a need for applications with a broad range of analytical and functional capabilities that can be simultaneously deployed onto multiple mobile and desktop platforms to perform in-situ operations and hence enabling extensive Lunar exploration. Celestial Mapping System (CMS) [1,2] is developed to address the need for tools for science investigations, mission planning, operations and support for planetary sciences. Built on top of NASA WorldWind libraries, CMS can be simultaneously deployed onto multiple platforms, has the flexibility to update to the latest imagery and terrain datasets as they are being acquired (in real time) before and/or during the exploration mission and has the potential to enable traverse path planning suited for rovers, EVA and surface mobility units. It can provide critical functionalities such as equipment planning and optimized placement on Lunar surface, line of sight analysis to inform the coverage area for various equipment, powerful measurement tools based on 3D terrain, 3D COLLADA models to represent rovers, humans and equipment, visualization of derived mapping products (e.g. resource maps), and a data engine for hosting new observations that are not available in other contemporary lunar data tools [1]. Visualization of PSRs: The current presentation focuses on the work performed by the authors, to consume a unique dataset of super-enhanced images of the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar poles which were produced by the Hyper-effective nOise Removal U-net Software (HORUS) tool [3]. This tool was developed in direct support of NASA's VIPER and Artemis programs to enhance the extremely low-light images of the interior of PSRs and provide the first-time ability to see within these regions at and discern surface features (i.e. boulders and craters) down to 3 meters in size. We focused on the region near Nobili crater near Lunar south pole, selected site for VIPER mission and stitched several images to create a high-resolution map within one of the PSR of Nobile crater. Line of Sight Analysis and Traverse Planning in PSRs: We have developed an in-built line of sight analysis (LOS) tool in CMS that analyzes the terrain profile and obstructions and provides the visibility of a given terrain for a remote observer. This tool was utilized to perform viewshed analysis to investigate the area inside the PSR, a remote observer such as a rover could see without actually crossing the region. Figure 1 shows the viewshed analysis on the PSR in Nobile region. The yellow pin shows the observer location outside the PSR. The yellow area shows the visible part of PSR. The obstructed area with no visibility for the observer is shown in red. Figure 1: (left) PSR image on top of a high-resolution mosaic of sunlit images of a crater, in Nobile region (right) Viewshed Analysis of the same PSR with observer location shown by yellow pin. This analysis was extended further to set different heights for various observers and then perform the viewshed analysis. Combining the different visibility profiles can help designing improved traverses within the crater. Future plans: Eventually, HORUS datasets will be integrated into CMS as a layer in selected lunar polar regions. Hazard Maps will then be created based on terrain analysis in those regions. This integration will enable multiple scientific and exploration applications, such as designing traverses within PSRs, analyzing potential landing and science mission targets, investigating the meter-scale geomorphology of PSRs, including craters, boulder, surface roughness, mass wasting features and other indications of the presence of water-ice and other volatiles. Acknowledgments: CMS developers team including Kaitlyn J. Dickinson, Tyler A. Lucarz, Tyler W. Choi from USRA, NASA WorldWind Advisory team including Mark Peterson and Guillermo Miguel Del Castillo, HORUS team member V.T. Bickel, Robinson, M., LRO MOON LROC 2 EDR V1.0, LRO-L-LROC-2-EDR-V1.0, NASA Planetary Data System (PDS), 2009. https://doi.org/10.17189/1520643 References: [1] https://celestial.arc.nasa.gov [2] Agrawal et. al. “Celestial Mapping System for Lunar Surface Mapping and Analytics”, Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium, 2021 [3] Bickel V. et al. (2021) Nat Commun 12, 5607

Lunar Mapping↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Viper Science Operations: Science Traverse Planning Perspectives, Processes, and Tools.

Introduction: The NASA Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) launchesin late 2024 towards a landing site on Mons Mouton in the Nobile region of the Lunar South Pole (LSP). As described in other LPSC presentations [1,2,3], the primary objective of the VIPER mission is to study the composition and distribution of hydrogen-bearing and other volatiles by way of a complementary suite of payloads that the rover will carry to the Moon: three “prospecting” instruments which operate continuously while roving - the Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS), the Near InfraRed Volatiles Spectrometer System (NIRVSS), and the Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo). A 1-meter auguring/percussive drill called the The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploration of New Terrains (TRIDENT) is used to bring subsurface cuttings to the surface in 10-cm increments where they are interrogated by NIRVSS and MSolo. The Visible Imaging System is comprised of eight cameras (the NavCam stereo pair mounted on the mast gimbal, the AftCam stereo pair mounted on the aft panel, and four HazCams mounted in the wheel wells) that capture grayscale visible wavelength images of the lunar environment and the rover’s upper deck. The VIPER mobility system is a four-wheel design that includes the following motorized modules: Suspension, Steering, and Drive/Propulsion. Wheel odometry and applied torque — combined with position data from rover imagery — can be used to compute assessments of ‘slip and sinkage’. Slope estimates can be computed from stereo rover imagery, as well as pitch and roll data from the IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and Star Tracker telemetry.

Darlene Sze Shien Lim↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Global 3D Data Visualization and Analysis Platform with Advanced Machine Learning Capabilities in Support of Lunar Exploration

Introduction: The science goals for NASA’s Artemis program include: a) Understanding the character and origin of lunar polar volatiles, b) Conducting experimental science in the lunar environment and c) Investigating and mitigating exploration risks. The permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) on the Lunar south pole are expected to host large quantities of water-ice and volatiles that are important for sustainable Lunar exploration. There are several missions such as onboard Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO: Korean name Danuri) with onboard ShadowCam camera, Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One [4], and other efforts underway to obtain high resolution topographic, minerals, volatiles and other information on the moon. We envision a need in immediate future for platforms to integrate these data sets, provide rendering and visualization capabilities in the context of a 3D Lunar globe for easier information access and analysis. NASA's Celestial Mapping System (CMS) is developed to address the need for 3D tools for planetary science investigations, mission planning, in-situ operations, in a 3D-first design constructed around a unified view of a planetary globe. At present CMS provides many critical functionalities that include: 1) equipment planning and optimized placement on Lunar surface 2) line-of-sight (LOS) analysis 3) powerful measurement tools based on 3D terrain with realistic 3D models to represent rovers, astronauts and equipment 4) visualization of derived mapping products (e.g. resource maps), and 5) a data engine for hosting new observations that are not available in other contemporary lunar data tools. Planetary Data Ingestion: CMS can consume and analyze data from locally hosted and external third party sources. It is compatible with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) data and file standards and currently integrates datasets from the Astrogeology Science Center of USGS. This includes global and local data acquired from NASA (LRO, Clementine, Lunar Orbiter) and JAXA (SELENE/Kaguya), with capability of integrating more datasets. In addition, users can specify other WMS-hosted data endpoints, which CMS can then query and stream data from automatically. To set-up an automated process for ingestion and accurate rendering, visualization and analysis of external 3rd party planetary datasets within CMS, we initiated the process of ingesting unique dataset of super-enhanced images of the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar poles which were produced by the Hyper-effective nOise Removal U-net Software (HORUS) tool. This tool was developed to enhance the extremely low-light images of the interior of PSRs and provide the ability to see within these regions at and discern surface features (i.e. boulders and craters) down to 3 meters in size. We focused on the Nobile region on the Lunar south pole, selected site for VIPER mission and stitched several images to create a high-resolution map within one of the PSR of Nobile crater. Figure 1 shows the dark PSR zone form the original NAC layer of LRO as the base layer (left image) and the illuminated areas within that crater (center) which was created by ingesting and merging several of HORUS generated images. At present we employ a semi-automated process to ensure spatial accuracy and merger of several overlapping zones. However, we are in the process of completely automating this process by employing AI based techniques that would rank, sort, and stack the images based on their information density. The georectification of the images would employ selected features. Analysis on Ingested Planetary Datasets: Once an external planetary data-set is successfully ingested, georectified and merged seamlessly as a data-layer; CMS’ numerous analysis tools can be used on this data. A Line of Sight (LOS) tool has been developed for CMS which analyzes terrain profiles and obstructions to determine visibility for remote observers. Figure 1 (right image) shows the viewshed analysis on the same PSR in the Nobile region. The yellow pin shows the observer location outside the PSR. The yellow area shows the visible part of PSR. The obstructed area with no visibility for the observer is shown in red. The Measurements tool allows the user to take area and distance measurements of features on the terrain using various shapes. Measurement type can be specified in a number of ways: Line, Path, Polygon, Circle, Ellipse, Square, Rectangle or Freehand. Once the shape is specified, elevation information can then be extracted along each of these shapes. Figure 2 (left) shows the measurements performed on a crater n illuminated PSR in Nobile region. The equipment placement tool allows the user to place a 3D equipment model at a desired location and analyze its coverage area. The equipment placement tool is coupled with LOS to determine the coverage. Figure 2 (right) shows an equipment placed on the Lunar terrain and it’s coverage area. The red rays are blocked sight lines and the green rays are non-obstructed sight lines with the cyan lines showing the point of intersection with the terrain. More details are provided in the video demonstrations in Reference 5. Overcoming Polar Distortions: 3D geospatial applications exhibit significant distortions in polar imagery due to several reasons: 1) distortions in the source imagery, 2) incompatible tessellation algorithms at the poles, and 3) map projections. We are leveraging new tessellation algorithms and reprojecting data using projections that are better suited for Lunar poles. The goal is to seamlessly switch to polar projections while maintaining 3D view and navigation.

Maps↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Global 3D Data Visualization and Analysis Platform With Advanced Machine Learning Capabilities in Support of Lunar Exploration

Introduction: The science goals for NASA’s Artemis program include: a) Understanding the character and origin of lunar polar volatiles, b) Conducting experimental science in the lunar environment and c) Investigating and mitigating exploration risks [1]. The permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) on the Lunar south pole are expected to host large quantities of water-ice and volatiles that are important for sustainable Lunar exploration [2]. There are several missions such as onboard Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO: Korean name Danuri) with onboard ShadowCam camera [3], Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One [4], and other efforts underway to obtain high resolution topographic, minerals, volatiles and other information on the moon. We envision a need in immediate future for platforms to integrate these data sets, provide rendering and visualization capabilities in the context of a 3D Lunar globe for easier information access and analysis. NASA's Celestial Mapping System (CMS) [5] is developed to address the need for 3D tools for planetary science investigations, mission planning, in-situ operations, in a 3D-first design constructed around a unified view of a planetary globe. At present CMS provides many critical functionalities that include: 1) equipment planning and optimized placement on Lunar surface 2) line-of-sight (LOS) analysis 3) powerful measurement tools based on 3D terrain with realistic 3D models to represent rovers, astronauts and equipment 4) visualization of derived mapping products (e.g. resource maps), and 5) a data engine for hosting new observations that are not available in other contemporary lunar data tools [5, 7]. Planetary Data Ingestion: CMS can consume and analyze data from locally hosted and external third party sources. It is compatible with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) data and file standards and currently integrates datasets from the Astrogeology Science Center of USGS. This includes global and local data acquired from NASA (LRO, Clementine, Lunar Orbiter) and JAXA (SELENE/Kaguya), with capability of integrating more datasets. In addition, users can specify other WMS-hosted data endpoints, which CMS can then query and stream data from automatically. To set-up an automated process for ingestion and accurate rendering, visualization and analysis of external 3rd party planetary datasets within CMS, we initiated the process of ingesting unique dataset of super-enhanced images of the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar poles which were produced by the Hyper-effective nOise Removal U-net Software (HORUS) tool [8]. This tool was developed to enhance the extremely low-light images of the interior of PSRs and provide the ability to see within these regions at and discern surface features (i.e. boulders and craters) down to 3 meters in size. We focused on the Nobile region on the Lunar south pole, selected site for VIPER mission and stitched several images to create a high-resolution map within one of the PSR of Nobile crater. Figure 1 shows the dark PSR zone form the original NAC layer of LRO as the base layer (left image) and the illuminated areas within that crater (center) which was created by ingesting and merging several of HORUS generated images. At present we employ a semi-automated process to ensure spatial accuracy and merger of several overlapping zones. However, we are in the process of completely automating this process by employing AI based techniques that would rank, sort, and stack the images based on their information density. The georectification of the images would employ selected features. Analysis on Ingested Planetary Datasets: Once an external planetary data-set is successfully ingested, georectified and merged seamlessly as a data-layer; CMS’ numerous analysis tools can be used on this data. A Line of Sight (LOS) tool has been developed for CMS which analyzes terrain profiles and obstructions to determine visibility for remote observers [5,6]. Figure 1 (right image) shows the viewshed analysis on the same PSR in the Nobile region. The yellow pin shows the observer location outside the PSR. The yellow area shows the visible part of PSR. The obstructed area with no visibility for the observer is shown in red. The Measurements tool allows the user to take area and distance measurements of features on the terrain using various shapes. Measurement type can be specified in a number of ways: Line, Path, Polygon, Circle, Ellipse, Square, Rectangle or Freehand. Once the shape is specified, elevation information can then be extracted along each of these shapes. Figure 2 (left) shows the measurements performed on a crater n illuminated PSR in Nobile region. The equipment placement tool allows the user to place a 3D equipment model at a desired location and analyze its coverage area. The equipment placement tool is coupled with LOS to determine the coverage. Figure 2 (right) shows an equipment placed on the Lunar terrain and it’s coverage area. The red rays are blocked sight lines and the green rays are non-obstructed sight lines with the cyan lines showing the point of intersection with the terrain. More details are provided in the video demonstrations in Reference 5. Overcoming Polar Distortions: 3D geospatial applications exhibit significant distortions in polar imagery due to several reasons: 1) distortions in the source imagery, 2) incompatible tessellation algorithms at the poles, and 3) map projections. We are leveraging new tessellation algorithms and reprojecting data using projections that are better suited for Lunar poles. The goal is to seamlessly switch to polar projections while maintaining 3D view and navigation.

Maps↗
NASA NTRS2022

Celestial Mapping System Video Demonstration Part 4

The current presentation focuses on the work performed by the authors, to consume a unique dataset of super-enhanced images of the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar south pole which were produced by the Hyper-effective nOise Removal U-net Software (HORUS) tool. This tool was developed in direct support of NASA's VIPER and Artemis programs to enhance the extremely low-light images of the interior of PSRs and provide the first-time ability to see within these regions at 3m scale visibility. We focused on the region near Nobili crater, selected site for VIPER mission and stitched several images to create a high-resolution map of B01 crater, that included the visualization of PSRs. We have developed an in-built line of sight analysis tool in CMS, that analyzes the terrain profile and obstructions and provides the visibility of a given terrain for a remote observer. This tool was utilized to perform viewshed analysis to investigate the area inside the PSR B01, a remote observer such as a rover could see without actually crossing the region. This analysis was extended further to set different heights for various observers and then perform the viewshed analysis. The combined visibility profile at different locations could subsequently lead to traverse planning.

Mapping↗