Multi-scale morphologic investigation of craters in the Chang'e-4 landing area

Abstract China\u0027s Chang\u0027e-4 (CE-4) rover landed in Von Karman crater on January 3, 2019, and has acquired a large amount of data of the landing site. Craters are an important landform in lunar surface and the analysis of craters at the landing site with high-resolution images is of great significance for both scientific study and engineering safety. In this study, multi-sources data, including Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images, NAC digital elevation model (DEM), Chang\u0027e-2 (CE-2) digital orthophoto map (DOM), SLDEM2015 and stereo images from panoramic cameras onboard the CE-4 rover, are involved to reveal the crater morphologic features at the landing site. The diameter, depth, spatial density and depth/diameter ratio (d/D) of the mapped craters have been investigated. Randomness analysis and the size-frequency distributions of craters in two scales are conducted to thoroughly elaborate the crater distribution in the landing area. The multi-scale crater investigation establishes a foundation for subsequent in-depth studies, e.g., crater evolution and degradation of lunar farside and CE-4 landing area dating.