An Approach to Lava Tube Detection in Radar Sounder Data of the Moon

Lunar lava tubes are buried channels that contained thermally insulated lava during the volcanic period of the Moon. Nowadays, they are believed to be empty and thus, identified as potential habitats for humans. In recent years, numerous studies investigated the possible locations of these tubes by taking into account the distribution of gravity anomalies and the volcanic features of the surface. In this paper, we model lava tubes according to their electromagnetic behavior, and we propose a novel approach to locate lava tubes and estimate their physical properties. The method analyzes the subsurface reflections stored in radargrams to extract the desired features automatically. Then, these features and their relationships are processed by a fuzzy rule-based system to detect the presence or absence of lava tubes. The strategy was implemented and successfully tested on simulated radargrams with various surface properties and tunnel dimensions.