The Moderate Resolution Imaging Camera (MoRIC) onboard the Tianwen-1 orbiter, China’s first Mars exploration mission, is a frame-imaging color camera. As of July 25, 2022, it has acquired a total of 14757 multiview stereo images covering the entire Martian surface. This letter proposes a scheme to construct a new global reference frame for Mars with a spatial resolution of several tens of meters using MoRIC images. It addresses critical issues, including on-orbit stereo imaging, tie points control network establishment, and global adjustment. Based on the photogrammetric global bundle adjustment technology with image data, the parameters, such as the internal and external orientation elements of the MoRIC images, have been significantly optimized. This has enabled high-precision positioning of images on the global scale of Mars, with a root mean square (rms) pixel residual of 0.9 pixels for tie points. A global orthophoto mosaic with a spatial resolution of 76 m and a geodetic control network have been established as a new Mars reference frame, providing a crucial foundational data for both Mars scientific exploration and engineering implementation.

This article deals with the investigation of the Martian subsurface in the Utopia Planitia region using Zhurong’s ground-penetrating radar. The low-frequency data recorded along the overall path followed by the rover are processed thanks to a customized signal processing pipeline aiming on one side to minimize the artifacts in the radargrams and, on the other one, to obtain images of the subsoil that aid the following analysis and interpretation stage. The images reveal a three-layer structure beneath the landing area up to the depth of ~40 m. The general scattering characteristics indicate the presence of$5~\sim ~8$-m regolith,$2~\sim ~3$-m fine materials, and$15~\sim ~30$m embedded with blocks generating a significant electromagnetic scattering. The existence of an upward decrease in grain size is resulted from long-term weathering and repeated impacts or the occurrence of flood events. The radargrams depict a distinctive local enhancement of the scattering at the end of the rover route from Sol 292 to Sol 325. Analysis of the layout of barchan dunes and the distribution of craters suggests that the resurfacing activity is the result of a complex combination of tectonic activities and impact events.

This work presents the results of the Lunar Regolith Penetrating Radar (LRPR), installed at the bottom of the Chang’E-5 (CE-5) lander, which is the first antenna-array radar deployed for the investigation of an extraterrestrial body. Radar imaging results unveiled a hyperfine structure for the top 2.5-m-thick lunar regolith with an unprecedented high resolution of 5 cm. The interpretation of the results permitted to state that subsurface regolith is dominated by fine grains with abundant rock fragments. The radar imaging results were also used to drive the drilling process until a fragment jammed the core inlet at about 100-cm underground. Laboratory measurements of the samples returned at Earth allow to estimate the real part of relative permittivity and the loss tangent, which are 3.04 ± 0.02 and 0.014 ± 0.002, respectively.