University of Dundee Asteroid modeling for testing spacecraft approach and landing

Spacecraft exploration of asteroids presents a variety of autonomous navigation challenges that can be aided by virtual models to test and develop guidance and hazard avoidance systems. This paper describes the extension and application of graphics techniques to create high-resolution, virtual asteroid models to simulate cameras and other spacecraft sensors approaching and descending towards asteroids. A scalable model structure with evenly spaced vertices is specified to simplify terrain modeling, avoid distortion at the poles and enable triangle strip definition for efficient rendering. The base asteroid models are created using both a two-phase Poisson faulting technique and Perlin noise. Realistic asteroid surfaces are created by adding synthetic crater models adapted from lunar terrain simulation and multi-resolution boulders to the base models. The synthetic asteroids are evaluated by comparison with real asteroid images, slope distributions, and by applying a surface relative feature tracking algorithm to the models.