Inferring the Variability of Dielectric Constant on the Moon from Mini-RF S-Band Observations
The physical properties of lunar regolith are crucial for exploration planning, hazard assessment, and characterizing scientific targets at global and polar scales. The dielectric constant, a key property, offers insights into lunar material distribution within the regolith and serves as a proxy for...
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2024
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:11d3f622df82400caba4010e5f3fc1aa 2024-09-30T14:43:49+00:00 Inferring the Variability of Dielectric Constant on the Moon from Mini-RF S-Band Observations Shashwat Shukla Gerald Wesley Patterson Abhisek Maiti Shashi Kumar Nicholas Dutton 2024-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173208 https://doaj.org/article/11d3f622df82400caba4010e5f3fc1aa EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/16/17/3208 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs16173208 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/11d3f622df82400caba4010e5f3fc1aa Remote Sensing, Vol 16, Iss 17, p 3208 (2024) Moon physical properties dielectric constant Mini-RF deep learning inversion model Science Q article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173208 2024-09-17T16:00:44Z The physical properties of lunar regolith are crucial for exploration planning, hazard assessment, and characterizing scientific targets at global and polar scales. The dielectric constant, a key property, offers insights into lunar material distribution within the regolith and serves as a proxy for identifying volatile-rich regoliths. Miniature radio frequency (Mini-RF) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) provides a potential tool for mapping the lunar regolith’s physical nature and assessing the lunar volatile repository. This study presents global and polar S-band Mini-RF dielectric signatures of the Moon, obtained through a novel deep learning inversion model applied to Mini-RF mosaics. We achieved good agreement between training and testing of the model, yielding a coefficient of determination (R 2 value) of 0.97 and a mean squared error of 0.27 for the dielectric constant. Significant variability in the dielectric constant is observed globally, with high-Ti mare basalts exhibiting lower values than low-Ti highland materials. However, discernibility between the South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin and highlands is not evident. Despite similar dielectric constants on average, notable spatial variations exist within the south and north polar regions, influenced by crater ejecta, permanently shadowed regions, and crater floors. These dielectric differences are attributed to extensive mantling of lunar materials, impact cratering processes, and ilmenite content. Using the east- and west-looking polar mosaics, we estimated an uncertainty (standard deviation) of 1.01 in the real part and 0.03 in the imaginary part of the dielectric constant due to look direction. Additionally, modeling highlights radar backscatter sensitivity to incidence angle and dielectric constant at the Mini-RF wavelength. The dielectric constant maps provide a new and unique perspective of lunar terrains that could play an important role in characterizing lunar resources in future targeted human and robotic exploration of the Moon. Article in Journal/Newspaper South pole Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Aitken ENVELOPE(-44.516,-44.516,-60.733,-60.733) South Pole Remote Sensing 16 17 3208 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Moon physical properties dielectric constant Mini-RF deep learning inversion model Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Moon physical properties dielectric constant Mini-RF deep learning inversion model Science Q Shashwat Shukla Gerald Wesley Patterson Abhisek Maiti Shashi Kumar Nicholas Dutton Inferring the Variability of Dielectric Constant on the Moon from Mini-RF S-Band Observations |
topic_facet |
Moon physical properties dielectric constant Mini-RF deep learning inversion model Science Q |
description |
The physical properties of lunar regolith are crucial for exploration planning, hazard assessment, and characterizing scientific targets at global and polar scales. The dielectric constant, a key property, offers insights into lunar material distribution within the regolith and serves as a proxy for identifying volatile-rich regoliths. Miniature radio frequency (Mini-RF) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) provides a potential tool for mapping the lunar regolith’s physical nature and assessing the lunar volatile repository. This study presents global and polar S-band Mini-RF dielectric signatures of the Moon, obtained through a novel deep learning inversion model applied to Mini-RF mosaics. We achieved good agreement between training and testing of the model, yielding a coefficient of determination (R 2 value) of 0.97 and a mean squared error of 0.27 for the dielectric constant. Significant variability in the dielectric constant is observed globally, with high-Ti mare basalts exhibiting lower values than low-Ti highland materials. However, discernibility between the South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin and highlands is not evident. Despite similar dielectric constants on average, notable spatial variations exist within the south and north polar regions, influenced by crater ejecta, permanently shadowed regions, and crater floors. These dielectric differences are attributed to extensive mantling of lunar materials, impact cratering processes, and ilmenite content. Using the east- and west-looking polar mosaics, we estimated an uncertainty (standard deviation) of 1.01 in the real part and 0.03 in the imaginary part of the dielectric constant due to look direction. Additionally, modeling highlights radar backscatter sensitivity to incidence angle and dielectric constant at the Mini-RF wavelength. The dielectric constant maps provide a new and unique perspective of lunar terrains that could play an important role in characterizing lunar resources in future targeted human and robotic exploration of the Moon. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Shashwat Shukla Gerald Wesley Patterson Abhisek Maiti Shashi Kumar Nicholas Dutton |
author_facet |
Shashwat Shukla Gerald Wesley Patterson Abhisek Maiti Shashi Kumar Nicholas Dutton |
author_sort |
Shashwat Shukla |
title |
Inferring the Variability of Dielectric Constant on the Moon from Mini-RF S-Band Observations |
title_short |
Inferring the Variability of Dielectric Constant on the Moon from Mini-RF S-Band Observations |
title_full |
Inferring the Variability of Dielectric Constant on the Moon from Mini-RF S-Band Observations |
title_fullStr |
Inferring the Variability of Dielectric Constant on the Moon from Mini-RF S-Band Observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Inferring the Variability of Dielectric Constant on the Moon from Mini-RF S-Band Observations |
title_sort |
inferring the variability of dielectric constant on the moon from mini-rf s-band observations |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173208 https://doaj.org/article/11d3f622df82400caba4010e5f3fc1aa |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-44.516,-44.516,-60.733,-60.733) |
geographic |
Aitken South Pole |
geographic_facet |
Aitken South Pole |
genre |
South pole |
genre_facet |
South pole |
op_source |
Remote Sensing, Vol 16, Iss 17, p 3208 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/16/17/3208 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs16173208 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/11d3f622df82400caba4010e5f3fc1aa |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16173208 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
17 |
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3208 |
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1811645450114039808 |