Identification of lunar subsurface echoes from radar sounder echoes with strong background surface off-nadir clutters

Abstract:

An effective approach for subsurface echo extraction was developed on the basis of the coherent and incoherent characteristics of the subsurface nadir echoes and surface off-nadir echoes (clutter). By stacking and averaging the received radar sounder echoes at different time series，subsurface echo could be identified if the subsurface topography variation was not too large. Taking the simulated radar sounder echoes from lunar maria and highlands area as example，this study verified the feasibility of this approach numerically. Finally，the influence on subsurface echo identification by the stacking number and surface roughness was discussed. The approach in this paper can be applied to Martian and other planetary exploration.