Moon-based Earth observation: scientific concept and potential applications

ABSTRACT Although Earth’s surface parameters obtained from satellite data have become more and more precise, it is still difficult to guarantee temporal consistency and spatial continuity for large-scale geoscience phenomena. Developing new Earth observation platforms is a feasible way to improve the consistency and continuity of such data. As the planet’s only natural satellite, the Moon has special advantages as a platform for observing Earth, including long lifetime, whole disk view, tectonic stability and unique perspective. After presenting the observation geometry constructed by using the ephemeris, this paper mainly discusses the characteristics of a lunar platform and the proper Moon-based sensors, as well as the scientific objectives of Moon-based Earth observation. Solid Earth dynamics, the energy budget of Earth, Earth’s environmental elements and the Earth-space environment are four potential applications analysed in this paper.

[1]  J. Johnson.  VISIBLE / NEAR-INFRARED REMOTE SENSING OF EARTH FROM THE MOON , 2007 .

[2]  Philip R. Goode,et al.  Toward a global earthshine network: First results from two stations , 2005 .

[3]  Ding Yi-xin.  Coverage Performance Analysis of Earth Observation from Lunar Base for Global Change Detection , 2014 .

[4]  C. U. Keller,et al.  Observing the Earth as an exoplanet with LOUPE, the lunar observatory for unresolved polarimetry of Earth , 2012, 1203.0209.

[5]  Jie Guang,et al.  Towards Moon-based monitoring of energy budget of the earth climate system , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS).

[6]  Antonio Moccia,et al.  Moon-based Synthetic Aperture Radar: Review and challenges , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS).

[7]  S. Saatchi,et al.  The Global Rain Forest Mapping project - A review , 2000 .

[8]  A. Moccia,et al.  Synthetic Aperture Radar for Earth Observation from a Lunar Base: Performance and Potential Applications , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[9]  D. G. Tilley,et al.  Reduction of layover distortion in SAR imagery , 1989 .

[10]  E. Pallé,et al.  The Lunar Terrestrial Observatory: Observing the Earth using photometers on the Moon’s surface , 2009 .

[11]  W. Wagner,et al.  Gaussian decomposition and calibration of a novel small-footprint full-waveform digitising airborne laser scanner , 2006 .

[12]  Shaopeng Huang.  Surface temperatures at the nearside of the Moon as a record of the radiation budget of Earth’s climate system , 2008 .

[13]  Hauke Hussmann,et al.  Geology, geochemistry, and geophysics of the Moon: Status of current understanding , 2012 .

[14]  José M. F. Moura,et al.  TR-SAR: Time Reversal Target Focusing in Spotlight SAR , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing - ICASSP '07.

[15]  Guo Huadong,et al.  Method to estimate the Doppler parameters of moon-borne SAR using JPL ephemeris , 2015 .

[16]  Sachiko Tanaka,et al.  Earth Tides Can Trigger Shallow Thrust Fault Earthquakes , 2004, Science.

[17]  Zhaohui Li,et al.  Development and calibration of the Moon-based EUV camera for Chang'e-3 , 2014 .

[18]  Giorgio Franceschetti,et al.  Potentials and Limitations of Moon-Borne SAR Imaging , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[19]  Patrick Hamill,et al.  Atmospheric observations from the moon: A lunar earth-observatory , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS).

[20]  J. L. van Genderen.  Space science & technology in China: a roadmap to 2050 , 2010, Int. J. Digit. Earth.

[21]  Wei Zuo,et al.  Data processing and initial results from the CE-3 Extreme Ultraviolet Camera , 2014 .

[22]  G. Barrot,et al.  GOMOS on Envisat: an overview , 2004 .

[23]  Ji Wu,et al.  Space Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050 , 2010 .

[24]  Stanley Q. Kidder,et al.  On the use of satellites in Molniya orbits for meteorological observation of middle and high latitudes , 1990 .

[25]  Christopher Ruf,et al.  GeoSTAR - a microwave sounder for geostationary satellites , 2004, IGARSS 2004. 2004 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[26]  W. Folkner,et al.  The Planetary and Lunar Ephemeris DE 421 , 2009 .

[27]  R. Hallberg,et al.  Internal wave generation in a global baroclinic tide model , 2004 .

[28]  P. Bird.  An updated digital model of plate boundaries , 2003 .

[29]  Xiuwei Chen,et al.  An overview of the scientific payloads in Chinese Chang'e-3 lunar mission , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS).

[30]  W. Brown.  Synthetic Aperture Radar , 1967, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[31]  Huadong Guo,et al.  Conceptual study of lunar-based SAR for global change monitoring , 2014, Science China Earth Sciences.

[32]  R. Balling,et al.  Influence of Lunar Phase on Daily Global Temperatures , 1995, Science.

[33]  T. Stein.  International Geoscience And Remote Sensing Symposium , 1992, [Proceedings] IGARSS '92 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[34]  G. Carruthers,et al.  Apollo 16 Far-Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph: Earth Observations , 1972, Science.

[35]  Liming Jiang,et al.  Moon-based earth observation for large scale geoscience phenomena , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS).