PlanetaryGIS.org Documentation

If you are new to the PlanetaryGIS.org documentation you might be interested in reading NewUser.

Landing-site Characterization and Selection

Landing safely on the planetary surface is a goal that all planetary and lunar lander exploration missions have in common. Since the action radius of rovers is limited (typically tens of kilometers), and planetary terrains can be highly variable in terms of topography and rock/soil composition, the landing site is one of the most deterministic elements of such exploration missions. The landing site largely determines the risk during landing, and to some extent during surface operations. The potential to fulfill the exploration and scientific goals also strongly depends on the landing site. Therefore the success of a lander mission is largely dependent on the process of landing-site characterization and selection.

For more information see LandingSiteCharacterizationAndSelection.

Lander missions: planned and active

For more information on lander missions to the Moon and Mars.

Other interesting solar system bodies:

Ganymede

Asteroids

Tools for planetary science

There are many tools one can use to characterize and select landing sites. In this section we are collecting user manuals how to use certain GIS tools for this process.

To use Google Earth in Mars exploration.

How to....

Planetary remote sensing data and use

Mars orbiter missions (Mars Express, MRO, etc)

Lunar orbiter missions

Links to PDS/PSA

Planetary mapping

Initiatives

USGS

PAGIS (ASI)

BGS/TNO

Europlanet JRA1

Coordinate Systems

Reference surfaces

Geological Mapping

Morphological Mapping

Age determination using crater counting

Odds and Ends

Venus