Jezero crater, Mars: application of the deep learning NOAH-H terrain classification system

Abstract

We applied a deep learning terrain classification system, the 'Novelty or Anomaly Hunter -HiRISE' (NOAH-H), originally developed for the ExoMars landing sites in Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis, to the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing site in Jezero crater. NOAH-H successfully classified the terrain in four HiRISE images of Jezero even though the landforms in the Jezero study area were slightly different from those in the training dataset. We mosaicked the NOAH-H classified rasters and compared them with a manually generated photogeological map, and with Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter images. We find that grouped NOAH-H classes correspond well with the humanmade map and that individual classes are corroborated by the available ground-truth images. We conclude that our NOAH-H products can be refined for feeding into traversability analysis of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover landing site at Oxia Planum and that they can also be used to aid the photogeological mapping process.

Reflectance of Jezero Crater Floor: 2. Mineralogical Interpretation

“…This highlights some implications for the interpretation of similar spectral signatures elsewhere on Mars, as fine soils tends to have an overall composition common to different locations on the planet (Cousin et al, 2015). Wright et al (2022) demonstrated that the surficial covers of Máaz and Séítah are significantly different, with the Máaz surface being mostly composed of scarce bedrock exposures and soils and the Séítah surface of scarce bedrock exposures and large sand ripples. We showed that the sand dunes that are widely covering the Séítah formation seem to be composed of material sourced from the local bedrock.…”

“…Wright et al. (2022) demonstrated that the surficial covers of Máaz and Séítah are significantly different, with the Máaz surface being mostly composed of scarce bedrock exposures and soils and the Séítah surface of scarce bedrock exposures and large sand ripples. We showed that the sand dunes that are widely covering the Séítah formation seem to be composed of material sourced from the local bedrock.…”