Topographic Map Database
High-Resolution DEM Database for Ark Region
The Topographic Map Database is a digital elevation model stored on radiation-hardened NOR flash and L1-DVT memory to support route planning, hazard avoidance, and SLAM anchoring across a 100 km² region. Operating on 0.5 W of power with a 100-year design lifetime, the system refines a 5 m Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LOLA baseline down to 0.5 m local resolution using surface LIDAR scans. Maintaining accurate terrain data is complicated by ongoing lunar surface evolution, where micrometeoroid impacts and ground settlement alter local topography over decades, requiring onboard updates to continuously supplement the archived Earth-source mapping tiles.
High-resolution digital elevation model database covering the Ark region, used for planning, hazard avoidance, and SLAM anchoring.
Purpose
High-resolution digital elevation model database covering the Ark region, used for planning, hazard avoidance, and SLAM anchoring.
Context
Child of L2-NAV-MAP within the Lunar Ark system
Principles
- ▸LRO LOLA DEM at 5m resolution baseline
- ▸Refined to sub-meter via local LIDAR scans
- ▸ICESat-class altimetry for global anchoring
- ▸Per-tile storage in L1-DVT
- ▸Periodically updated from on-board observations
Typical implementations
- ▸NASA LRO LOLA DEM
- ▸JAXA SELENE / Kaguya DEM
- ▸ESA ShadowCam for permanently shadowed regions
- ▸Visual SLAM DEM Anchoring (arXiv 2603.17229)
Lunar considerations
- ▸Lunar surface gradually changes (MMOD impacts, settlement)
- ▸On-board updates supplement Earth-source data
- ▸Long-mission archive grows over decades
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | High-resolution digital elevation model database covering the Ark region, used for planning, hazard avoidance, and SLAM anchoring. |
| resolution m local | 0.5 |
| area km2 | 100 |
Physical
| mass kg | 0 |
| materials | Code on rad-hard NOR flash + L1-DVT storage |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
Operational
| power consumption w | 0.5 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 100 |
| mtbf hours | 500000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- DEM anchoring for visual SLAM
- Topo for route planning
Requires
- DEM tile storage
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Topographic Map Database" (L3-NAV-MAP-TOPO). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-NAV-MAP-TOPO
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.