Using publicly released Chandrayaan-2 imagery and open source software, researcher Chandra Tungathurthi has created a 30 cm-resolution 3D map of the Chandrayaan-3 landing site, showing how community-driven tools can power future ISRO missions.
An independent Indian researcher has demonstrated that mission-grade lunar mapping no longer needs to remain confined to space agencies. Using publicly available Chandrayaan-2 imagery and open-source tools, Germany-based Chandra Tungathurthi has built a high-resolution 3D terrain map of Shiv Shakti Point, the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander’s touchdown site near the Moon’s south pole.
The work resulted in a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with roughly 30cm per pixel resolution, detailed enough to capture terrain shape, slopes, depressions, craters, and boulders, and to support rover path planning and safe landing analysis. The model was generated from Orbiter High Resolution Camera stereo image pairs using photogrammetry techniques. Tungathurthi spent months building an open processing pipeline, while the final computation alone ran for over 24 hours on a high-performance computer.
Explaining the value of elevation data, Tungathurthi said, “An OHRC image tells you what the surface looks like. A DEM tells you what the surface actually is,” adding, “Over the past several months, I spent considerable time understanding how Chandrayaan-2 data is organised and released. During this process, I realised that recent advances in open-source tools have made it possible to independently generate high-resolution elevation maps of the lunar surface,”.
Such models help identify safe landing zones, measure crater depths, detect 30 cm-scale rocks, and plan rover routes. The capability could directly aid Chandrayaan-4, which aims to collect and return lunar regolith samples, where precise terrain knowledge is critical.
