China-EU Project Launched to Support Planetary Geological Mapping
A new project to support planetary geological mapping has received funding within framework of the China-EU co-funding mechanism (CFM) on research and innovation cooperation. ‘Key Technologies and Demonstration of Standardised Planetary Geologic Mapping’ is led by Prof Zhizhong Kang of the China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB). The funding of 3,160,000 RMB (~400,000 Euros) for the National Key Research and Development Project runs from 1st December 2020 until 30th November 2023.
The project aims to develop key technologies to standardise planetary geological mapping and implement the methods in geological mapping for current and upcoming Chinese and European lunar and planetary missions, e.g. Chang’E-5-8, TianWen-1 and BepiColumbo. It will focus on multiple thematic map feature extraction and standardisation of geological mapping technologies.
The project team involves several partners from the Europlanet 2024 RI consortium, including CUGB (Project PI), Wuhan University, Peking University, Shandong University, National Space Science Center of China Academy of Science, University of Padova, Jacobs University Bremen and Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität.
Tasks:
- Topographic mapping based on cognitive enhancement (Wuhan University)
- Reconstruction method of planetary subsurface structure based on radar data and optical images (Peking University)
- Quantitative inversion of elements and minerals on planetary surfaces (Shandong University)
- Ground verification of quantitative remote sensing inversion on planetary surfaces (National Space Science Center, China Academy of Science)
- Standardisation of planetary geological mapping (China University of Geosciences, Beijing)
