In a new study, scientists demonstrate a new lidar technique that could help robotic vehicles avoid hazards when landing during future missions to Mars or the moon. The method uses flash lidar to record full 3D images with a single laser pulse, which prevents the motion blur that is present with traditional lidar approaches.

Farzin Amzajerdian from NASA Langley Research Center will present the new findings at the Optica Laser Congress, 11–15 December 2022. The presentation, titled "Development of a 3D Flash Lidar for Terrain Sensing and Safe Landing on Planetary Bodies," will be presented on-site and online in a hybrid format.

"Lidar technology plays a critical role in future missions to the moon, Mars, and other solar system bodies since they require precision safe landing at specific locations where valuable resources may be found or may lead to important scientific discoveries," said principal investigator, Farzin Amzajerdian, Ph.D.

A streamlined design

Flash lidar is useful for several purposes throughout the process of landing robotic vehicles. As a vehicle descends to a surface, flash lidar can be used to generate 3D terrain maps from an altitude of several kilometers to reduce position error.

It's been over 35 years since a spacecraft visited Uranus and Neptune. That was Voyager 2, and it only did flybys. Will we ever go back? There are discoveries waiting to be made on these fascinating ice giants and their moons.

If human beings want to survive on the other planets for a long time, they must first find or set up a safe, stable, and long-term shelter. Lunar lava tubes are geological structures on the moon discovered in recent years. They take the form of hollow pipe-shaped caves formed on the surface of the planet by volcanic activity.

Because a lunar lava tube has a hard basalt roof, its internal environmental factors such as temperature changes, radiation doses, and the probability of being hit by meteorites are relatively limited. As such, it offers in theory an ideal human lunar habitat. Until now, more than 300 potential cave entrances have been identified on the moon. The "skylights" they display are the result of a kind of pit caused by the active lava tube collapsing.

In a new article published in Space: Science & Technology, the research team led by Gengxin Xie and Linli Guo has discussed the feasibility of using lunar lava tubes for human habitation, proposed the idea of using the Earth's karst caves to simulate extraterrestrial lava tubes, selected caves in Chongqing as the simulation site, and demonstrated the feasibility in terms of both structural and environmental aspects.