Scattering Numerical Simulation of Typical Lunar Features With Rock Abundance Effects

Scattering properties of lunar surface rocks are important guides for remote sensing observation of the lunar surface and discrimination of geologic features. Previous studies primarily focused on the scattering effects of surface or partially buried rocks in terms of angle or frequency, with limited research addressing SAR simulation images of rocks on the lunar surface. This study proposes a 3-D scattering model that integrates the vector radiative transfer (VRT) method with lunar surface rock scattering mechanisms while effectively combining topographic data, rock abundance (RA) data, and radar parameters. To implement this model, an end-to-end computational framework is developed to process input datasets and apply the 3-D scattering model for backscattering coefficient simulation, reducing uncertainties in the input parameters. Several case studies are performed on Mini-RF observational data. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach shows good consistency with radar data, particularly in terms of distribution characteristics and average backscattering coefficient errors, with an error margin of less than 3 dB.