A Review of Planet Rovers' Terrain Reconstruction

Several planet rovers have successfully done the exploration on the surface of the Moon and the Mars. High resolution and precision terrain data of a planet's surface is vitally important to the navigation system of the rovers, even for the whole exploration missions. This paper reviews the rovers sent to the universe in the past, including three Moon rovers (‘Lunokhod 1’, ‘Lunokhod 2’, ‘Yutu’) and four Mars rovers (‘Sojourner’, ‘Spirit’, ‘Opportunity’, ‘Curiosity’), and their terrain reconstruction methods. This paper also reviews the technology of stereo vision and its application in the study of terrain reconstruction. It also compares the characteristics of two methods of stereo match. In the end, this paper analyzes the problems of present studies in this field, providing some references and advice for future lunar or mars exploration.