Digital Elevation Map Parametric Error Analysis Pipeline using Corresponding NAC Images

Future lunar landing systems, particularly those used to land humans on the lunar surface as part of the ARTEMIS program, will require precision navigation relative to the lunar surface.
The most common way to meet these stringent navigation requirements is through terrain relative navigation (TRN), which localizes a spacecraft by comparing descent imagery with a predefined map of the surface.
The accuracy achievable using TRN is limited by the accuracy of the reference Digital Elevation Map (DEM).
It is therefore critical for future lunar missions that potential errors in DEMs be quantified.
This paper describes one of NASA’s current efforts to develop a process for evaluating lunar DEM quality.