Test-field for evaluation of laboratory craters using a Crater Shape-based interpolation crater detection algorithm and comparison with Martian and Lunar impact craters

Abstract Impact craters are some of the most abundant geological features on most lunar and planetary bodies, providing insight into the history and physical processes that shaped their surface. It is therefore not surprising that extensive research has been done in the past on laboratory craters, as well as on crater detection algorithms (CDAs). No prior work has investigated how CDAs can assist in the research of laboratory craters, nor has an alternative formal method for evaluation of the similarity between laboratory and real impact craters been proposed. The result of this work is a test-field for evaluation of laboratory craters which includes: (1) a procedure for creation of explosion-induced laboratory craters in stone powder surfaces; (2) a method for 3D scanning of laboratory craters using a GOM-ATOS-I 3D scanner; (3) a new method for emplacement of laboratory craters into the topography of a planetary body; (4) a new method for objective evaluation of laboratory craters which utilizes the CDA, the Turing test, and a new measure of similarity between laboratory and real craters; and (5) a possibility of accompanying manual evaluation of laboratory craters using 2D topographical profiles. The successful verification of the proposed test-field, using Martian and Lunar global DEMs and local high-resolution DEMs, confirmed possibilities for the proposed scientific investigations of real impact craters using laboratory craters as proxies. This cost-effective approach also promises affordable accessibility for introductory physics and astronomy laboratories.