Indian researchers creates 3D map of Chandrayaan-3's Shiv Shakti point on the Moon
Chandrayaan-3 is India's third lunar exploration mission, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to demonstrate a safe landing and rover operation on the Moon.
An independent Indian researcher based in Germany has created a high-resolution 3D terrain map of the Moon’s Shiv Shakti Point, where India’s Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander successfully touched down in August 2023.
The achievement demonstrates how publicly available space data and open-source tools can be used to better understand lunar terrain.
Chandra Tungathurthi developed the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the landing site using images captured by the Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC) onboard the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
The resulting model maps the lunar surface in three dimensions at a resolution of roughly 30 centimetres per pixel, offering an unusually detailed view of the landing region near the Moon’s south pole.
WHAT IS CHANDRAYAAN-3?
Chandrayaan-3 is India’s third lunar exploration mission, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to demonstrate a safe landing and rover operation on the Moon.
The mission successfully made India the first country to land near the Moon’s south polar region and the fourth country in the world to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.
The spacecraft was launched on July 14, 2023, aboard the LVM3 rocket from Sriharikota, and the Vikram lander touched down on the Moon on August 23, 2023. The landing site was later named Shiv Shakti Point by India.
FINDING CHANDRAYAAN-3 ON THE MOON
In a blog post describing the work, Tungathurthi explained that a elevation map provides far more scientific value than ordinary photographs of the lunar surface.
“An OHRC image tells you what the surface looks like. A DEM tells you what the surface actually is,” he wrote, noting that the model captures the terrain’s shape, slopes, depressions, and boulders.
Unlike flat imagery, a digital elevation model allows scientists and engineers to calculate slope maps, measure crater depths, identify safe landing zones, and plan rover traversal paths. Such information is essential for future lunar missions that involve landing, mobility, and sample collection.
A 3D MAP OF THE MOON
The 3D reconstruction was made possible using OHRC stereo image pairs, which are created when the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft photographs the same area from different angles during consecutive orbits.
The spacecraft tilts by roughly 5 degrees on one pass and about 25 degrees on another, allowing software to reconstruct the terrain in three dimensions using photogrammetry techniques.
Tungathurthi said the project took months of research and experimentation to understand the data formats and build a working processing pipeline using open-source tools.
"Over the past several months, I spent considerable time understanding how Chandrayaan-2 data is organised and released. During this process, I realised that recent advances in open-source tools have made it possible to independently generate high-resolution elevation maps of the lunar surface," Chandra told IndiaToday.in.
The final computation alone required more than 24 hours on a high-performance computer.
`The development could have implications for India’s future lunar exploration plans. Chandrayaan-4, currently under planning, aims to demonstrate lunar regolith sample collection and return, a technically complex mission that requires precise knowledge of surface conditions.
High-resolution elevation models help mission planners determine whether terrain is truly flat, detect small obstacles such as 30-centimetre-scale rocks, and assess whether slopes remain within a lander’s stability limits.
They can also help evaluate whether routes between landing sites and sampling locations are safe for robotic movement.
As lunar exploration becomes more advanced, such detailed terrain mapping could play a crucial role in improving landing safety and mission planning for India’s next generation of Moon missions.
An independent Indian researcher based in Germany has created a high-resolution 3D terrain map of the Moon’s Shiv Shakti Point, where India’s Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander successfully touched down in August 2023.
The achievement demonstrates how publicly available space data and open-source tools can be used to better understand lunar terrain.
Chandra Tungathurthi developed the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the landing site using images captured by the Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC) onboard the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
The resulting model maps the lunar surface in three dimensions at a resolution of roughly 30 centimetres per pixel, offering an unusually detailed view of the landing region near the Moon’s south pole.
WHAT IS CHANDRAYAAN-3?
Chandrayaan-3 is India’s third lunar exploration mission, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to demonstrate a safe landing and rover operation on the Moon.
The mission successfully made India the first country to land near the Moon’s south polar region and the fourth country in the world to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.
The spacecraft was launched on July 14, 2023, aboard the LVM3 rocket from Sriharikota, and the Vikram lander touched down on the Moon on August 23, 2023. The landing site was later named Shiv Shakti Point by India.
FINDING CHANDRAYAAN-3 ON THE MOON
In a blog post describing the work, Tungathurthi explained that a elevation map provides far more scientific value than ordinary photographs of the lunar surface.
“An OHRC image tells you what the surface looks like. A DEM tells you what the surface actually is,” he wrote, noting that the model captures the terrain’s shape, slopes, depressions, and boulders.
Unlike flat imagery, a digital elevation model allows scientists and engineers to calculate slope maps, measure crater depths, identify safe landing zones, and plan rover traversal paths. Such information is essential for future lunar missions that involve landing, mobility, and sample collection.
A 3D MAP OF THE MOON
The 3D reconstruction was made possible using OHRC stereo image pairs, which are created when the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft photographs the same area from different angles during consecutive orbits.
The spacecraft tilts by roughly 5 degrees on one pass and about 25 degrees on another, allowing software to reconstruct the terrain in three dimensions using photogrammetry techniques.
Tungathurthi said the project took months of research and experimentation to understand the data formats and build a working processing pipeline using open-source tools.
"Over the past several months, I spent considerable time understanding how Chandrayaan-2 data is organised and released. During this process, I realised that recent advances in open-source tools have made it possible to independently generate high-resolution elevation maps of the lunar surface," Chandra told IndiaToday.in.
The final computation alone required more than 24 hours on a high-performance computer.
`The development could have implications for India’s future lunar exploration plans. Chandrayaan-4, currently under planning, aims to demonstrate lunar regolith sample collection and return, a technically complex mission that requires precise knowledge of surface conditions.
High-resolution elevation models help mission planners determine whether terrain is truly flat, detect small obstacles such as 30-centimetre-scale rocks, and assess whether slopes remain within a lander’s stability limits.
They can also help evaluate whether routes between landing sites and sampling locations are safe for robotic movement.
As lunar exploration becomes more advanced, such detailed terrain mapping could play a crucial role in improving landing safety and mission planning for India’s next generation of Moon missions.