Overview and Prospect of Planetary Landing Site Selection

Abstract

In planetary exploration, areas of scientific interest are usually full of hazards, which sets high requirements on landing safety. How to choose a proper landing site under engineering constraints and science objectives, while improving the reliability of the mission and obtaining high science return, has become one of the primary problems to be solved in future landing missions. In this paper, the landing site distributions in the past missions are reviewed, followed by a summary of the factors considered in the landing site selection process. After analyzing the current development situation, a general selection process of planetary landing sites is given. At last, some thoughts and suggestions on the landing site selection problem in future deep space exploration missions are presented.

Keywords

planetary exploration / landing site selection / safe landing