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"Shape-from-shading requires that the images that you're using be perfectly aligned with one another so that a feature in one image is in the exact same place in another image to build up those layers of information, but current tools are not quite in a place where you can just give it bunches of images and it'll spit out a perfect product," Boatwright said.

"We implemented an image alignment algorithm where it picks out features in one image and tries to find those same features in the other and then line them up, so that you're not having to sit there manually tracing interest points across multiple images, which takes a lot a of hours and brain power."

The researchers also implemented quality control algorithms and additional filters to reduce outliers from the alignment process—tools to ensure the aligned images actually match and remove images that don't align as well. By only selecting images that end up being usable, this improves quality and takes precision down to submeter resolutions. The speed also allows for larger surface areas to be examined, increasing the production of these maps.

The researchers evaluated the accuracy of their maps by comparing them with other existing topographic models, looking for discrepancies or errors in lunar surface features. They found the maps generated using their refined shape-from-shading method were more precise compared to those derived from traditional techniques, showing more subtle features and variations of lunar surface terrain.

For the study, the researchers primarily used data from Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, instruments onboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the moon since 2009.

The scientists plan to use their refined shape-from-shading software to produce lunar maps, and they hope others will use it in their modeling efforts, as well. It's why they used open-source algorithms to produce the tool.

"These new map products are significantly better than what we had in exploration planning during the Apollo missions, and they will very much improve the mission planning and scientific return for Artemis and robotic missions," said Head, a professor of geological sciences at Brown who worked in the Apollo program.

The researchers hope the new tool will add to the current interest in the science and exploration of the moon happening at NASA and in space agencies around the world.

"There's a wealth of information to be gained from making these types of tools accessible to all," Boatwright said. "It's an egalitarian way of doing science."