Visual Localization of the Tianwen-1 Lander Using Orbital, Descent and Rover Images
Wenhui Wan, Tianyi Yu, Kaichang Di, Jia Wang, Zhaoqin Liu, Lichun Li, Bin Liu, Yexin Wang, Man Peng, Bo Zheng, Lejia Ye, Runzhi Wang, Li Yin, Meiping Yang, Ke Shi, Ximing He, Zuoyu Zhang, Hui Zhang, Hao Lü, Shuo Bao
Abstract
Tianwen-1, China’s first Mars exploration mission, was successfully landed in the southern part of Utopia Planitia on 15 May 2021 (UTC+8). Timely and accurately determining the landing location is critical for the subsequent mission operations. For timely localization, the remote landmarks, selected from the panorama generated by the earliest received Navigation and Terrain Cameras (NaTeCam) images, were matched with the Digital Orthophoto Map (DOM) generated by high resolution imaging camera (HiRIC) images to obtain the initial result based on the triangulation method. Then, the initial localization result was refined by the descent images received later and the NaTeCam DOM. Finally, the lander location was determined to be (25.066°N, 109.925°E). Verified by the new orbital image with the lander and Zhurong rover visible, the localization accuracy was within a pixel of the HiRIC DOM.