Crater Projection in Linear Pushbroom Camera Images

TL;DR

This paper develops a mathematical framework for analyzing and visualizing crater rims in pushbroom camera images of celestial bodies, aiding interpretation of elliptical crater features.

Contribution

It introduces explicit and implicit formulations for crater rim projection in pushbroom images using ellipse parameters, enhancing analysis capabilities.

Findings

Explicit formulas for crater rim projection

Implicit forms indicating orbital conditions

Numerical examples demonstrating practical interpretation

Abstract

Scientific imaging of the Moon, Mars, and other celestial bodies is often accomplished with pushbroom cameras. Craters with elliptical rims are common objects of interest within the images produced by such sensors. This work provides a framework to analyze the appearance of crater rims in pushbroom images. With knowledge of only common ellipse parameters describing the crater rim, explicit formulations are developed and shown to be convenient for drawing the apparent crater in pushbroom images. Implicit forms are also developed and indicate the orbital conditions under which craters form conics in images. Several numerical examples are provided which demonstrate how different forms of crater rim projections can be interpreted and used in practice.