Dusty Mafic Rocks Along the Path of Chang'E‐4 Rover: Initial Analysis of the Image Cubes of the Onboard Visible and Near‐Infrared Imaging Spectrometer

Wang, Xing; Liu, Jianjun; Liu, Dawei; Huang, Hai; Lin, Ge; Zhang, Qing; Chen, Yuan; Liu, Bin; Chen, Wangli; Ren, Xin; Li, Chunlai

doi:10.1029/2021gl095033

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Of all the acquired lunar spectra, the spatial resolution of in situ detection is higher than that of remote sensing. The reflectance spectra calculated from the inflight calibration unit can represent the absolute reflectance of the lunar surface, provide “ground truth” for remote sensing detection (Y. Wu & Hapke, 2018), and reveal more details about the surface on a smaller scale (Wang et al., 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chang'E‐5 In Situ Spectra Reveal Photometric Properties of the Lunar Surface

Guo,

Ren,

Liu

et al. 2024

JGR Planets

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The Chang’E‐5 (CE‐5) lunar mineralogical spectrometer (LMS) obtained an in situ multiangular spectral data set, with which this work aims to study the photometric properties of the lunar surface in the CE‐5 sampling area. We first converted the LMS Level 2B radiance data to reflectance, and then spliced it and processed thermal correction. We also used a millimeter‐scale digital elevation model (DEM) to re‐calculate local illumination and observation conditions considering the high‐resolution topography at the landing site. We analyzed the multiangular reflectance data set with a Hapke modeling approach aimed at characterizing the scattering properties of the surface. In particular, we found that the surface exhibits a spectral signature typical of mafic materials and is close to the mature mare lunar soil. The position of the in situ photometric parameters in the hockey stick diagram indicates that CE‐5 lunar soil particles are forward scattering, irregular and with a low density of internal scatters. Furthermore, we found that all the in situ data (including CE‐3/4/5) and laboratory measurements exhibit forward scattering properties, but the orbiter remote sensing measurements are backward scattering. We attribute this discrepancy to the different resolution of the two data sets: the in situ analysis focuses on the individual particles, whereas remote sensing approach is sensitive to the particle complex. The Hapke parameters we derived can provide a reference for the further comprehensive analysis of remote sensing and in situ spectral data, especially, caution is advised when applying the photometric parameters derived from in situ or laboratory spectra to the remote sensing data.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chang'E‐5 In Situ Spectra Reveal Photometric Properties of the Lunar Surface

Guo,

Ren,

Liu

et al. 2024

JGR Planets

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“…During Yutu-2's expedition of the first 41 lunar days, it has been navigating towards the northwest (Fig. 1b) for 1142.39 m until 8 April 2022, and investigated several exposed rock fragments [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] along the route. An olivine-norite rock was detected on the 3rd lunar day, and shed light on the composition of the lunar interior and the lunar magma ocean (LMO) crystallization 24 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Lunar rock investigation and tri-aspect characterization of lunar farside regolith by a digital twin

Ding,

Zhou,

et al. 2024

Nat Commun

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Yutu-2 rover conducted an exciting expedition on the 41st lunar day to investigate a fin-shaped rock at Longji site (45.44°S, 177.56°E) by extending its locomotion margin on perilous peaks. The varied locomotion encountered, especially multi-form wheel slippage, during the journey to the target rock, established unique conditions for a fin-grained lunar regolith analysis regarding bearing, shear and lateral properties based on terramechanics. Here, we show a tri-aspect characterization of lunar regolith and infer the rock’s origin using a digital twin. We estimate internal friction angle within 21.5°−42.0° and associated cohesion of 520-3154 Pa in the Chang’E-4 operational site. These findings suggest shear characteristics similar to Apollo 12 mission samples but notably higher cohesion compared to regolith investigated on most nearside lunar missions. We estimate external friction angle in lateral properties to be within 8.3°−16.5°, which fills the gaps of the lateral property estimation of the lunar farside regolith and serves as a foundational parameter for subsequent engineering verifications. Our in-situ spectral investigations of the target rock unveil its composition of iron/magnesium-rich low-calcium pyroxene, linking it to the Zhinyu crater (45.34°S, 176.15°E) ejecta. Our results indicate that the combination of in-situ measurements with robotics technology in planetary exploration reveal the possibility of additional source regions contributing to the local materials at the Chang’E-4 site, implying a more complicated geological history in the vicinity.

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confidence: 99%

Technology enabled science: investigation of a fin-shaped rock by the Yutu-2 rover on the lunar farside

Ding

Zhou

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Technology advancement in modern planetary exploration has extended extraterrestrial geological science by sending rovers on challenging, possibly risky but highly scientific-valuable ventures, such as ascending towards the crater walls, traversing steep slopes of sand dunes and travelling through the lava tube. On the 41st lunar day, the first lunar farside prospector, the Yutu-2 rover, carried out an exciting expedition towards a scientifically interesting fin-shaped rock for spectral investigation, taking a high risk of wheel skidding and lateral slippage along a narrow and uneven passage. The rover successfully achieved new findings by extending its locomotion margin on perilous peaks, while its safety was maintained on the basis of ingenious exploration strategies and digital twin-based performance analysis. Surface morphology analysis of the fin-shaped rock indicates that it has suffered certain degrees of impacts. The further in situ spectral investigations suggest that the target rock is composed of Fe/Mg-rich low-Ca pyroxene, thus inferred to belongs to the Zhinyu crater ejecta, rather than those of the Finsen crater. Engineering locomotive data of the rover was used for comprehensive lunar regolith property identification, presenting the first shear parameter range of the farside regolith and an initial estimation on its lateral property in the extraterrestrial environment. The estimated internal friction angle is within 21.5°-42.0° and the associated cohesion is 520-3154 Pa, which suggests that the lunar regolith at Chang’E-4 site had similar shear characteristics to samples measured by direct shear approach on the Apollo 12 mission, but relatively larger cohesion than the counterpart investigated on most of nearside lunar missions. This study demonstrates a paradigm of the in-depth integration of science and technology in space exploration, where planetary science is enabled by engineering support, and new demands of scientific exploration in turn generate motivation for the improvement of technology.

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Dusty Mafic Rocks Along the Path of Chang'E‐4 Rover: Initial Analysis of the Image Cubes of the Onboard Visible and Near‐Infrared Imaging Spectrometer

Cited by 8 publications

References 37 publications

Chang'E‐5 In Situ Spectra Reveal Photometric Properties of the Lunar Surface

Chang'E‐5 In Situ Spectra Reveal Photometric Properties of the Lunar Surface

Lunar rock investigation and tri-aspect characterization of lunar farside regolith by a digital twin

Technology enabled science: investigation of a fin-shaped rock by the Yutu-2 rover on the lunar farside

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