Celestial Body Surface Mapping for Resource Discovery Using Satellites

Abstract

Exploring the solar system provides new possibilities for the survival and development of humankind. Although we do not yet have the technology to migrate on a large scale, we must first find proper celestial bodies, understand their environment, and utilize them. In the future, with highly developed space technology, planets and natural satellites will become “islands” in the solar system for human settlements. However, the lack of information on this matter is one of the greatest challenges in this field. And, for the purpose of geographic data collection, improvements in surface precision and resolution with highly accurate 3D modeling and 2D maps are needed, and the surface of celestial bodies should be mapped by making full use of geometry and different types of map projection methods. Different techniques should be used for the accurate localization of rovers using satellites, thus combining both to create a map of the resource distribution. In this article, a projection method based on conventional techniques for better accuracy and efficiency of mapping and projections of a celestial body is proposed. For further research, hardware enhancements, improvements in multimodal techniques, and the development of communication protocols for rovers and satellites could be pivotal.

Keywords

• projection mapping
• localization algorithm
• surface construction