A new approach for terrain analysis of lunar surface by Chandrayaan-1 data using open source libraries

Abstract

Chandrayaan-1, India's first moon mission was launched by ISRO in October 2008. SAC (Space Applications centre) is responsible for development of software for processing data from HySI (Hyper Spectral Imager) and TMC (Terrain Mapping Camera). The present work discusses the technique and methodology for generating terrain parameters i.e. slope, aspect, relief-shade, contour etc. using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generated from Chandrayaan-1 TMC datasets. In this paper, an algorithm and corresponding desktop application software has been developed and implemented. Preliminary testing of application using Chandrayaan-1 DEM data indicate promising results. Environment creation for execution of the code using open source technology is the challenging task, as it includes the building of open source libraries with visual studio. This paper describes the Slope, Aspect, Relief-Shade, Painted slope, Painted aspect and Painted DEM generation method and discusses the results achieved for the good evaluation of terrain.