Development Of An Integrated Vision System (Ivs) For Characterization Of The Lunar Surface

The integrated vision system (IVS) is a prototype stand-off instrument that would be mounted on a rover mast for planetary exploration. The newly envisioned IVS instrument concept is currently being redesigned for rapid reconnaissance of the lunar surface through the integration of a multispectral imager and a multi-wavelength LIDAR. The wide band multispectral camera uses two types of image sensors to cover the wide wavelength from 250 to 2,500 nm. This is a novel development as all previous and current context imagers on landers or rovers have only had the capability to acquire images up to 1,000 nm. We demonstrate the clear links between the potential capabilities of the IVS to strategic knowledge gaps related to lunar resource exploration. We describe the primary scientific goals and objectives of the instrument, and investigation measurement objectives that can be traced to specific instrument requirements. We demonstrate how the IVS would be able to rapidly differentiate between different types of lunar materials through the use of band ratios and spectral parameters on orbital datasets. Through these analyses, we identify a nominal list of filter wavelengths for the IVS that would be most suitable for lunar exploration.