Università degli Studi di Padova

“Open Problems in the DAEDALUS-CAM, An Immersive Stereocamera for Lunar Caves Exploration”

Lunedì 7 Marzo 2022, ore 12:00 - Sala Riunioni 702 - Claudio Pernechele ed Emanuele Simioni (INAF – Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica Padova)

Abstract

The DaedalusCAM is an optical camera studied by the ESA (European Space Agency), intended to explore the lunar caves and lava tubes in the first half of the next ’30s. Lava tubes may furnish an important habitable site in the moon, because they naturally screen from interplanetary ionizing radiation, very dangerous for the human life and they could be possible sources of water. The camera hosts four panoramic lenses and has been designed by the INAF (National Institute for Astrophysics) in Padova. It will perform an immersive stereoscopic map of the lunar cave. Due to the strong optical anamorphism inherent to the lens, a lot of effort has to be spent in rectifying the distorted images (de-warping algorithms). Moreover, the camera has stereoscopic capabilities, i. e. each point in the cave is seen by at least two over the four lenses. Finding the coupled points seen through such anamorphic lenses is a hard duty, which necessitates the development of custom mathematical models. The photogrammetric approach for these cameras will have potential to provide a new generation of panoramic 3D data of planetary surfaces.