Data and Methods

Everything Terratoria shows can be traced to an open dataset or a citation. This page lists the data, the exact scoring rules and the limits of the method.

In plain words: we measured the shape of the land and the temperatures at each place from NASA and ESA data, looked up published research for everything else, and gave each Earth site a score from 0 to 100 for how much it resembles the Moon or Mars region. Switch to Scientific mode to see every formula, dataset and rule.

What was analysed

4 reference regions: Shackleton crater and rim; Marius Hills pit; Jezero crater; Arsia Mons north flank.
21 Earth sites, each as one 60 km window: 20 with terrain metrics, 21 with climate data.
3 of the Earth sites are the team's own candidates and have not been validated in the field.
This is not a search of the whole Earth. No site outside this list was examined.

Datasets

NASA data

Matches the “NASA Data” field of the project submission.

Mission / instrument	Product and version	Resolution / period	Level	Used for, and quality notes
Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterLunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA)NASA	LRO-L-LOLA-4-GDR-V1.0: LDEM_80S_80M (south pole), LDEM_64 (global)v3.1 (LDEM_64, created 2019-03-15)	80 m (polar stereographic); 64 px/deg, about 474 m (cylindrical)2009 onward, cumulative	processed	Moon terrain: slope, relief, roughness, hypsometry and elevation profileGridded product; interpolated between laser tracks. Resampled to 463 m by block-averaging.
Lunar Reconnaissance OrbiterDiviner Lunar Radiometer ExperimentNASA	LRO-L-DLRE-5-GCP-V1.0 Global Cumulative Product (bolometric brightness temperature)1 (created 2016-05-27)	0.5° x 0.5° x 0.25 h local time2009-07-05 to 2015-04-01	processed	Moon thermal: mean, maximum and minimum surface temperature over the lunar dayBins with no nadir observations (-9999) are excluded; at least 48 of 96 local-time bins are required. A 0.5° bin at the pole mixes sunlit rim and shadowed floor.
Mars Global SurveyorMars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA)NASA	MGS-M-MOLA-5-MEGDR-L3-V1.0 topography (megt), 128 px/deg2.0 (created 2003-03-21)	128 px/deg, about 463 m at the equator1997 to 2001	processed	Mars terrain: slope, relief, roughness, hypsometry and elevation profileGridded product with interpolation between tracks, widest near the equator. Sets the 463 m common baseline for all worlds.
Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER)MERRA-2 reanalysis (model assimilating satellite observations)NASA	POWER Climatology API: TS, TS_MAX, TS_MIN, WS10MPOWER v2 API, annual climatology	0.5° x 0.625°Multi-decade climatology (as returned by the API)	derived	Earth thermal and wind: skin temperature mean and extremes, 10 m wind speedReanalysis, not a direct observation. One grid cell (about 50 km) per site, so local microclimates such as crater floors or valley bottoms are not resolved.
Earth Observing System Data and Information SystemGlobal Imagery Browse Services (GIBS)NASA	BlueMarble_ShadedRelief_Bathymetry; VIIRS_Black_Marble (night lights on the home page Earth)Static composite	500 m native; 4096 × 2048 px used for the 3D globeComposite, not time-specific	processed	Earth map basemap and the 3D Earth texture (display only, not scored)Imagery for context. Not used in any similarity score.
NASA 3D ResourcesPlanetary texture maps and Apollo photographsNASA	Mars, Venus, Saturn and Neptune maps; Hipparcos star map; two Apollo images. Jupiter: Cassini global map PIA07782 (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute, NASA Photojournal). Milky Way: NASA/Goddard SVS Deep Star Maps 2020 (Gaia DR2: ESA/Gaia/DPAC)GitHub repository, master branch	720 to 3601 px wideVarious	processed	3D scenes and the image viewer (display only, not scored)Imagery for context. Not used in any similarity score.

Space agency partner data

ESA is a 2026 Space Apps partner agency.

Mission / instrument	Product and version	Resolution / period	Level	Used for, and quality notes
TanDEM-X (DLR / Airbus)X-band synthetic aperture radar interferometryESA / European Commission (Copernicus)	Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (DSM), cloud-optimised GeoTIFFDGED 2021 release (public AWS bucket)	3 arc-seconds, about 90 m2010 to 2015 acquisitions	processed	Earth terrain: slope, relief, roughness, hypsometry and elevation profileSurface model: includes vegetation and buildings. Water is stored as 0 m and is excluded. Chosen over NASADEM because it needs no login and covers the polar sites.

Other references

Published results used where no open gridded product was processed.

Mission / instrument	Product and version	Resolution / period	Level	Used for, and quality notes
Mars 2020 PerseveranceMars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA)NASA / CAB (Spain)	Published summary: Rodriguez-Manfredi et al. (2023), Nature Geoscience 16First 250 sols	Single in-situ station2021	literature	Mars thermal at Jezero: near-surface air temperature mean and daily swingLiterature value, not processed by us. Air temperature at 1.45 m, compared against surface skin temperature on Earth. No thermal data were used for Arsia Mons.
n/an/aPeer-reviewed literature	Characteristic tags for geology, illumination, water and ice, aeolian features, biology, subsurface and operationsCompiled November 2026	Site levelPublications from 1973 to 2023	literature	Six literature-derived dimensions and site statusEvery journal reference was checked against its Crossref record (author, year, title, volume, pages, DOI) in November 2026; four reports and books were checked against NASA and publisher records. Formatted in APA 7th edition.

Levels: raw = instrument readings; processed = calibrated, gridded products from the mission team; derived = model or reanalysis output; literature = values taken from papers. Terratoria computes its own derived indicators (slope, relief, roughness, similarity scores) from the processed products. Basemap imagery is NASA GIBS Blue Marble, used for display only.

How the pipeline works

For each place, read a 60.2 km × 60.2 km window centred on its coordinates from the open archive (HTTP range requests; no bulk download).
Resample to 130 × 130 cells of 463 m, the native MOLA pixel. Finer sources (Copernicus 90 m, LOLA 80 m) are block-averaged so slopes mean the same thing on every world.
Exclude nodata and open water. If under half the window is valid, no terrain metrics are produced.
Compute slope (Horn 3 × 3), slope histogram, 2nd–98th percentile relief, roughness, hypsometric integral and a west–east profile.
Read Earth climate from NASA POWER and lunar temperature from the Diviner cumulative product for the bin containing each place.
Before trusting any output, the pipeline checks itself against known values: Mauna Loa summit, Jezero floor, Shackleton depth, Marius Hills elevation.

The scripts are in the repository under pipeline/ and can be rerun with node pipeline/run-terrain.mjs and node pipeline/run-climate.mjs.

Exploratory Analogue Similarity Index

Index = Σ(Wᵢ × Qᵢ × Sᵢ) ÷ Σ(Wᵢ × Qᵢ)

Sᵢ is a dimension's similarity score, 0 to 100. Wᵢ is the weight you set. Qᵢ is a data-quality factor between 0 and 1.
Q is 1.0 × the valid-data fraction for measured terrain, 0.9 for measured climate, 0.7 when one side is a literature value and 0.6 for literature tags.
A dimension with no data on either side is left out of both sums. It lowers the coverage figure, never the score.
No index is shown unless at least three dimensions have data and a weight above zero.
The index is a screening aid. It is not a probability and has not been validated against field results.

Rule for each dimension

Terrain: Mean of four measured comparisons on DEMs resampled to a common baseline: slope-histogram overlap, local relief ratio, roughness ratio and hypsometric integral difference.
Geology and materials: Share of the reference region's documented geological characteristics also documented at the Earth site.
Temperature and light: Mean surface temperature difference (60 K scale) and temperature-range difference (80 K scale), blended 75/25 with shared illumination characteristics where documented.
Water and ice: Share of the reference region's documented water, ice and volatile characteristics also documented at the Earth site.
Dust and wind: Shared aeolian and dust characteristics, blended 50/50 with the ratio of mean near-surface wind speeds where both are available.
Biology and habitability: Share of the habitability and biosignature-relevant characteristics of the reference region that the Earth site lets researchers study.
Caves and subsurface: Share of the reference region's documented subsurface features (caves, lava tubes, pits) also documented at the Earth site.
Exploration operations: Shared operational characteristics from field campaigns, blended 50/50 with similarity of steep-slope (90th percentile) terrain.

Worked example, terrain, Mauna Loa (HI-SEAS and lava fields) against Shackleton crater and rim: Slope distribution overlap 63% (median 4.8° vs 8.9°); Local relief 2999 m vs 3936 m; Roughness 11.3 m vs 34.3 m at a 463 m baseline; Hypsometric integral 0.41 vs 0.60. Score 63.3, quality 1.00.

Literature tags

For the six literature-derived parts, each place carries tags from a fixed vocabulary, and each tag set cites its sources. The score is the share of the reference region's tags that are also documented at the Earth site.

Geology and materials: basalt, lava flows, volcanic cones, shield volcano, pyroclastics, impact crater, impact breccia, anorthosite, fine regolith, river delta, lake sediments, carbonates, clays, olivine rich, sulfates, evaporites, iron oxides, dune sand
Temperature and light: low sun angle, months of darkness, permanent shadow, months of daylight, extreme cold, large daily swing, high insolation
Water and ice: ground ice, surface ice, cold trapped volatiles, ancient lake, hydrated minerals, hyperarid, glacial landforms, brines
Dust and wind: dunes, yardangs, dust devils, fine dust cover, wind abrasion, fine abrasive particles
Biology and habitability: ancient habitable water, biosignature preservation, dry limit of life, cold limit of life, endolithic life, acidophiles, polyextremophiles, cave microbial habitat
Caves and subsurface: lava tubes, skylights, karst caves, buried ice, impact fractures
Exploration operations: crew field training, rover field tests, habitat simulation, drilling tests, sample collection practice, steep slope access, cave exploration tests

Weight presets

Lunar Base Research: Raises temperature and light, water and ice, terrain and operations. Lowers biology and wind, which matter little on the Moon. [80, 50, 100, 90, 20, 0, 50, 90]
Mars Rover Mobility: Raises terrain, operations and dust and wind. Geology counts for its surface materials; biology and ice are lowered. [100, 60, 30, 20, 80, 0, 10, 90]
Geological Field Research: Puts geology first, then terrain and water history. Everything else is kept low. [60, 100, 10, 60, 30, 20, 30, 40]
Thermal Environment Research: Puts temperature and light first, with ice as a supporting factor. Other dimensions are nearly switched off. [20, 10, 100, 60, 20, 0, 20, 20]
Dust and Aeolian Research: Puts dust and wind first, with terrain and surface materials as supporting factors. [50, 40, 30, 10, 100, 0, 0, 30]
Habitability and Subsurface Research: Raises biology, subsurface and water and ice. Terrain and operations are lowered. [20, 50, 40, 90, 10, 100, 100, 20]

Limitations

What Earth cannot reproduce: Moon

Vacuum: there is no air, so no wind, weather or convective cooling.
Gravity is one sixth of Earth's, which changes how soil, vehicles and people behave.
Unshielded solar and cosmic radiation, and micrometeorite impacts.
A day lasts 29.5 Earth days; at the poles the Sun stays near the horizon.
Lunar soil is sharp, glassy and electrostatically charged; no Earth material matches it fully.
Permanently shadowed craters reach about 40 K, far colder than anywhere on Earth.

What Earth cannot reproduce: Mars

Surface pressure is under 1% of Earth's, in a carbon dioxide atmosphere.
Gravity is 38% of Earth's.
Strong ultraviolet and particle radiation reach the surface.
Soils contain perchlorate salts and almost no organic matter.
No rain, rivers or plants have reshaped the surface for billions of years.
Temperatures swing by 50 to 60 K every day and are far below freezing on average.

Limits of this method

Instruments differ between worlds: laser altimeters on the Moon and Mars, radar on Earth, with different native resolutions.
All terrain is compared at a 463 m baseline. Boulders, small craters and other features below that scale are not captured.
Each place is one 60 km window. A different window at the same site could score differently.
Earth climate values come from a 50 km reanalysis grid cell, not a ground station.
Literature-derived dimensions depend on what has been published, so well-studied sites can score higher.
How similar a site is and how practical it is to work there are separate questions.

Not done in this version

No Landsat, MODIS, ASTER or CRISM spectral processing; mineral information is literature-derived.
No gridded Mars thermal product (TES, THEMIS) was processed; Arsia Mons has no thermal comparison.
No illumination modelling; lighting conditions are literature tags.
No automated global scan or machine learning. Candidates were chosen by hand and then measured.

References (APA 7th edition)

Data sets and literature together, in alphabetical order. Journal articles were checked against their Crossref records (authors, year, title, volume, pages and DOI); NASA reports and books were checked against NASA and publisher records. References stay in their original language.

Allwood, A. C., Walter, M. R., Kamber, B. S., Marshall, C. P., & Burch, I. W. (2006). Stromatolite reef from the Early Archaean era of Australia. Nature, 441(7094), 714–718. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04764
Amils, R., González-Toril, E., Fernández-Remolar, D., Gómez, F., Aguilera, Á., Rodríguez, N., Malki, M., García-Moyano, A., Fairén, A. G., de la Fuente, V., & Luis Sanz, J. (2007). Extreme environments as Mars terrestrial analogs: The Rio Tinto case. Planetary and Space Science, 55(3), 370–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2006.02.006
Baldridge, A. M., Farmer, J. D., & Moersch, J. E. (2004). Mars remote‐sensing analog studies in the Badwater Basin, Death Valley, California. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 109(E12), Article 2004JE002315. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004je002315
Barrows, T. T., Magee, J., Miller, G., & Fifield, L. K. (2019). The age of Wolfe Creek meteorite crater (Kandimalal), Western Australia. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 54(11), 2686–2697. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13378
Belilla, J., Moreira, D., Jardillier, L., Reboul, G., Benzerara, K., López-García, J. M., Bertolino, P., López-Archilla, A. I., & López-García, P. (2019). Hyperdiverse archaea near life limits at the polyextreme geothermal Dallol area. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(11), 1552–1561. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1005-0
Bonaccorsi, R., & Stoker, C. R. (2008). Science results from a Mars drilling simulation (Río Tinto, Spain) and ground truth for remote science observations. Astrobiology, 8(5), 967–985. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2007.0152
Cabrol, N. A., Wettergreen, D., Warren‐Rhodes, K., Grin, E. A., Moersch, J., Diaz, G. C., Cockell, C. S., Coppin, P., Demergasso, C., Dohm, J. M., Ernst, L., Fisher, G., Glasgow, J., Hardgrove, C., Hock, A. N., Jonak, D., Marinangeli, L., Minkley, E., Ori, G. G., . . . Wyatt, M. (2007). Life in the Atacama: Searching for life with rovers (science overview). Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 112(G4), Article 2006JG000298. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006jg000298
Camp, V. E., Roobol, M. J., & Hooper, P. R. (1991). The Arabian continental alkali basalt province: Part II. Evolution of Harrats Khaybar, Ithnayn, and Kura, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 103(3), 363–391. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1991)103<0363:tacabp>2.3.co;2
Cavalazzi, B., Barbieri, R., Gómez, F., Capaccioni, B., Olsson-Francis, K., Pondrelli, M., Rossi, A., Hickman-Lewis, K., Agangi, A., Gasparotto, G., Glamoclija, M., Ori, G., Rodriguez, N., & Hagos, M. (2019). The Dallol Geothermal Area, Northern Afar (Ethiopia)—An exceptional planetary field analog on Earth. Astrobiology, 19(4), 553–578. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2018.1926
Cockell, C. S., Lee, P., Osinski, G., Horneck, G., & Broady, P. (2002). Impact‐induced microbial endolithic habitats. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 37(10), 1287–1298. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2002.tb01029.x
Colwell, J. E., Batiste, S., Horányi, M., Robertson, S., & Sture, S. (2007). Lunar surface: Dust dynamics and regolith mechanics. Reviews of Geophysics, 45(2), Article 2005RG000184. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005rg000184
Cushing, G. (2012). Candidate cave entrances on Mars. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, 74(1), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.4311/2010ex0167r
Cushing, G. E., Titus, T. N., Wynne, J. J., & Christensen, P. R. (2007). THEMIS observes possible cave skylights on Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, 34(17), Article 2007GL030709. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007gl030709
Ehsani, A. H., & Quiel, F. (2008). Application of Self Organizing Map and SRTM data to characterize yardangs in the Lut desert, Iran. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112(7), 3284–3294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2008.04.007
European Space Agency. (2022). Copernicus DEM [Data set]. https://doi.org/10.5270/ESA-c5d3d65
Farley, K. A., Stack, K. M., Shuster, D. L., Horgan, B. H. N., Hurowitz, J. A., Tarnas, J. D., Simon, J. I., Sun, V. Z., Scheller, E. L., Moore, K. R., McLennan, S. M., Vasconcelos, P. M., Wiens, R. C., Treiman, A. H., Mayhew, L. E., Beyssac, O., Kizovski, T. V., Tosca, N. J., Williford, K. H., . . . Zorzano, M.-P. (2022). Aqueously altered igneous rocks sampled on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars. Science, 377(6614), Article eabo2196. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo2196
Farley, K. A., Williford, K. H., Stack, K. M., Bhartia, R., Chen, A., de la Torre, M., Hand, K., Goreva, Y., Herd, C. D. K., Hueso, R., Liu, Y., Maki, J. N., Martinez, G., Moeller, R. C., Nelessen, A., Newman, C. E., Nunes, D., Ponce, A., Spanovich, N., . . . Wiens, R. C. (2020). Mars 2020 mission overview. Space Science Reviews, 216(8), Article 142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00762-y
Fernández-Remolar, D. C., Morris, R. V., Gruener, J. E., Amils, R., & Knoll, A. H. (2005). The Río Tinto Basin, Spain: Mineralogy, sedimentary geobiology, and implications for interpretation of outcrop rocks at Meridiani Planum, Mars. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 240(1), 149–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2005.09.043
Fredriksson, K., Dube, A., Milton, D. J., & Balasundaram, M. S. (1973). Lonar Lake, India: An impact crater in basalt. Science, 180(4088), 862–864. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.180.4088.862
Friedmann, E. I. (1982). Endolithic microorganisms in the Antarctic cold desert. Science, 215(4536), 1045–1053. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.215.4536.1045
Glass, B., Cannon, H., Branson, M., Hanagud, S., & Paulsen, G. (2008). DAME: Planetary-prototype drilling automation. Astrobiology, 8(3), 653–664. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2007.0148
Gonzalez-Pimentel, J. L., Miller, A. Z., Jurado, V., Laiz, L., Pereira, M. F. C., & Saiz-Jimenez, C. (2018). Yellow coloured mats from lava tubes of La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain) are dominated by metabolically active actinobacteria. Scientific Reports, 8(1), Article 1944. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20393-2
Goudge, T. A., Mustard, J. F., Head, J. W., Fassett, C. I., & Wiseman, S. M. (2015). Assessing the mineralogy of the watershed and fan deposits of the Jezero crater paleolake system, Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 120(4), 775–808. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014je004782
Grieve, R. A. F. (1975). Petrology and chemistry of the impact melt at Mistastin Lake crater, Labrador. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 86(12), 1617. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1975)86<1617:pacoti>2.0.co;2
Haruyama, J., Hioki, K., Shirao, M., Morota, T., Hiesinger, H., van der Bogert, C. H., Miyamoto, H., Iwasaki, A., Yokota, Y., Ohtake, M., Matsunaga, T., Hara, S., Nakanotani, S., & Pieters, C. M. (2009). Possible lunar lava tube skylight observed by SELENE cameras. Geophysical Research Letters, 36(21), Article 2009GL040635. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009gl040635
Horgan, B. H., Anderson, R. B., Dromart, G., Amador, E. S., & Rice, M. S. (2020). The mineral diversity of Jezero crater: Evidence for possible lacustrine carbonates on Mars. Icarus, 339, 113526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2019.113526
Kaku, T., Haruyama, J., Miyake, W., Kumamoto, A., Ishiyama, K., Nishibori, T., Yamamoto, K., Crites, S. T., Michikami, T., Yokota, Y., Sood, R., Melosh, H. J., Chappaz, L., & Howell, K. C. (2017). Detection of intact lava tubes at Marius hills on the Moon by SELENE (Kaguya) Lunar Radar Sounder. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(20). https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gl074998
Kring, D. A. (2007). Guidebook to the geology of Barringer Meteorite Crater, Arizona (a.k.a. Meteor Crater) (LPI Contribution No. 1355). Lunar and Planetary Institute.
Lancaster, N. (1989). The Namib sand sea: Dune forms, processes and sediments. A. A. Balkema.
Lawrence, S. J., Stopar, J. D., Hawke, B. R., Greenhagen, B. T., Cahill, J. T. S., Bandfield, J. L., Jolliff, B. L., Denevi, B. W., Robinson, M. S., Glotch, T. D., Bussey, D. B. J., Spudis, P. D., Giguere, T. A., & Garry, W. B. (2013). LRO observations of morphology and surface roughness of volcanic cones and lobate lava flows in the Marius hills. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 118(4), 615–634. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgre.20060
Lee, P., & Osinski, G. R. (2005). The Haughton-Mars Project: Overview of science investigations at the Haughton impact structure and surrounding terrains, and relevance to planetary studies. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 40(12), 1755–1758. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2005.tb00144.x
Léveillé, R. J., & Datta, S. (2010). Lava tubes and basaltic caves as astrobiological targets on Earth and Mars: A review. Planetary and Space Science, 58(4), 592–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2009.06.004
Li, S., Lucey, P. G., Milliken, R. E., Hayne, P. O., Fisher, E., Williams, J.-P., Hurley, D. M., & Elphic, R. C. (2018). Direct evidence of surface exposed water ice in the lunar polar regions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(36), 8907–8912. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1802345115
Lim, D. S., Abercromby, A. F., Kobs Nawotniak, S. E., Lees, D. S., Miller, M. J., Brady, A. L., Miller, M. J., Mirmalek, Z., Sehlke, A., Payler, S. J., Stevens, A. H., Haberle, C. W., Beaton, K. H., Chappell, S. P., Hughes, S. S., Cockell, C. S., Elphic, R. C., Downs, M. T., Heldmann, J. L., & the BASALT Team (2019). The BASALT Research Program: Designing and developing mission elements in support of human scientific exploration of Mars. Astrobiology, 19(3), 245–259. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2018.1869
LRO LOLA Science Team. (2019). Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter gridded data records (LRO-L-LOLA-4-GDR-V1.0; LDEM_64 v3.1, LDEM_80S_80M) [Data set]. NASA Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/lro/lola.htm
Mader, M. M., & Osinski, G. R. (2018). Impactites of the Mistastin Lake impact structure: Insights into impact ejecta emplacement. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 53(12), 2492–2518. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13173
Maloof, A. C., Stewart, S. T., Weiss, B. P., Soule, S. A., Swanson-Hysell, N. L., Louzada, K. L., Garrick-Bethell, I., & Poussart, P. M. (2009). Geology of Lonar Crater, India. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 122(1–2), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1130/b26474.1
Mangold, N., Baratoux, D., Arnalds, O., Bardintzeff, J.-M., Platevoet, B., Grégoire, M., & Pinet, P. (2011). Segregation of olivine grains in volcanic sands in Iceland and implications for Mars. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 310(3–4), 233–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.07.025
Mangold, N., Gupta, S., Gasnault, O., Dromart, G., Tarnas, J. D., Sholes, S. F., Horgan, B., Quantin-Nataf, C., Brown, A. J., Le Mouélic, S., Yingst, R. A., Bell, J. F., Beyssac, O., Bosak, T., Calef, F., Ehlmann, B. L., Farley, K. A., Grotzinger, J. P., Hickman-Lewis, K., . . . Williford, K. H. (2021). Perseverance rover reveals an ancient delta-lake system and flood deposits at Jezero crater, Mars. Science, 374(6568), 711–717. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abl4051
Marchant, D. R., & Head, J. W. (2007). Antarctic dry valleys: Microclimate zonation, variable geomorphic processes, and implications for assessing climate change on Mars. Icarus, 192(1), 187–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2007.06.018
Mazarico, E., Neumann, G., Smith, D., Zuber, M., & Torrence, M. (2011). Illumination conditions of the lunar polar regions using LOLA topography. Icarus, 211(2), 1066–1081. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2010.10.030
McKay, C. P. (2008). Snow recurrence sets the depth of dry permafrost at high elevations in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 21(1), 89–94. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102008001508
McKay, C. P., Friedmann, E. I., Gómez-Silva, B., Cáceres-Villanueva, L., Andersen, D. T., & Landheim, R. (2003). Temperature and moisture conditions for life in the extreme arid region of the Atacama Desert: Four years of observations including the El Niño of 1997–1998. Astrobiology, 3(2), 393–406. https://doi.org/10.1089/153110703769016460
MGS MOLA Science Team. (2003). Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter mission experiment gridded data records (MGS-M-MOLA-5-MEGDR-L3-V1.0) [Data set]. NASA Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/mgs/megdr.html
Mildrexler, D. J., Zhao, M., & Running, S. W. (2011). Satellite finds highest land skin temperatures on Earth. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 92(7), 855–860. https://doi.org/10.1175/2011bams3067.1
Musilova, M., Foing, B., & Rogers, H. (2021). Simulating lava tube exploration research during analog lunar and Martian missions at HI-SEAS in Hawaii. EGU General Assembly 2021 [Conference abstract]. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14600
NASA Global Imagery Browse Services. (n.d.). Blue Marble shaded relief and bathymetry [Image layer]. Retrieved November 14, 2026, from https://gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov/
NASA Langley Research Center. (n.d.). Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) climatology API [Data set]. Retrieved November 14, 2026, from https://power.larc.nasa.gov/
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2020). Artemis III science definition team report (NASA/SP-20205009602). https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/artemis-iii-science-definition-report-12042020c.pdf
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (n.d.). NASA 3D resources [Image collection]. GitHub. Retrieved November 14, 2026, from https://github.com/nasa/NASA-3D-Resources
Navarro-González, R., Rainey, F. A., Molina, P., Bagaley, D. R., Hollen, B. J., de la Rosa, J., Small, A. M., Quinn, R. C., Grunthaner, F. J., Cáceres, L., Gomez-Silva, B., & McKay, C. P. (2003). Mars-like soils in the Atacama Desert, chile, and the dry limit of microbial life. Science, 302(5647), 1018–1021. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1089143
Newman, C. E., Hueso, R., Lemmon, M. T., Munguira, A., Vicente-Retortillo, Á., Apestigue, V., Martínez, G. M., Toledo, D., Sullivan, R., Herkenhoff, K. E., de la Torre Juárez, M., Richardson, M. I., Stott, A. E., Murdoch, N., Sanchez-Lavega, A., Wolff, M. J., Arruego, I., Sebastián, E., Navarro, S., . . . Guzewich, S. D. (2022). The dynamic atmospheric and aeolian environment of Jezero crater, Mars. Science Advances, 8(21), Article eabn3783. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn3783
Northup, D., Melim, L., Spilde, M., Hathaway, J., Garcia, M., Moya, M., Stone, F., Boston, P., Dapkevicius, M., & Riquelme, C. (2011). Lava cave microbial communities within mats and secondary mineral deposits: Implications for life detection on other planets. Astrobiology, 11(7), 601–618. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2010.0562
Osinski, G. R., Lee, P., Spray, J. G., Parnell, J., Lim, D. S. S., Bunch, T. E., Cockell, C. S., & Glass, B. (2005). Geological overview and cratering model for the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Canadian High Arctic. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 40(12), 1759–1776. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2005.tb00145.x
Paige, D. A., Siegler, M. A., Zhang, J. A., Hayne, P. O., Foote, E. J., Bennett, K. A., Vasavada, A. R., Greenhagen, B. T., Schofield, J. T., McCleese, D. J., Foote, M. C., DeJong, E., Bills, B. G., Hartford, W., Murray, B. C., Allen, C. C., Snook, K., Soderblom, L. A., Calcutt, S., . . . Lucey, P. G. (2010). Diviner lunar radiometer observations of cold traps in the moon’s south polar region. Science, 330(6003), 479–482. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1187726
Phinney, W. C. (2015). Science training history of the Apollo astronauts (NASA/SP-2015-626). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190026783
Rodriguez-Manfredi, J. A., de la Torre Juarez, M., Sanchez-Lavega, A., Hueso, R., Martinez, G., Lemmon, M. T., Newman, C. E., Munguira, A., Hieta, M., Tamppari, L. K., Polkko, J., Toledo, D., Sebastian, E., Smith, M. D., Jaakonaho, I., Genzer, M., De Vicente-Retortillo, A., Viudez-Moreiras, D., Ramos, M., . . . the MEDA team (2023). The diverse meteorology of Jezero crater over the first 250 sols of Perseverance on Mars. Nature Geoscience, 16(1), 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01084-0
Ruff, S. W., & Christensen, P. R. (2002). Bright and dark regions on Mars: Particle size and mineralogical characteristics based on Thermal Emission Spectrometer data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 107(E12). https://doi.org/10.1029/2001je001580
Sasnett, P., Goehring, B. M., Christie‐Blick, N., & Schaefer, J. M. (2012). Do phreatomagmatic eruptions at Ubehebe Crater (Death Valley, California) relate to a wetter than present hydro‐climate? Geophysical Research Letters, 39(2), Article 2011GL050130. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011gl050130
Sauro, F., Payler, S. J., Massironi, M., Pozzobon, R., Hiesinger, H., Mangold, N., Cockell, C. S., Frias, J. M., Kullerud, K., Turchi, L., Drozdovskiy, I., & Bessone, L. (2023). Training astronauts for scientific exploration on planetary surfaces: The ESA PANGAEA programme. Acta Astronautica, 204, 222–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.12.034
Sauro, F., Pozzobon, R., Massironi, M., De Berardinis, P., Santagata, T., & De Waele, J. (2020). Lava tubes on Earth, Moon and Mars: A review on their size and morphology revealed by comparative planetology. Earth-Science Reviews, 209, 103288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103288
Schubert, B. A., Lowenstein, T. K., & Timofeeff, M. N. (2009). Microscopic identification of prokaryotes in modern and ancient halite, Saline Valley and Death Valley, California. Astrobiology, 9(5), 467–482. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2008.0282
Spudis, P. D., Bussey, B., Plescia, J., Josset, J., & Beauvivre, S. (2008). Geology of Shackleton crater and the south pole of the Moon. Geophysical Research Letters, 35(14), Article 2008GL034468. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008gl034468
Steele, A., Fries, M. D., Amundsen, H. E. F., Mysen, B. O., Fogel, M. L., Schweizer, M., & Boctor, N. Z. (2007). Comprehensive imaging and Raman spectroscopy of carbonate globules from Martian meteorite ALH 84001 and a terrestrial analogue from Svalbard. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 42(9), 1549–1566. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2007.tb00590.x
Stewart, M., Andrieux, E., Blinkhorn, J., Guagnin, M., Fernandes, R., Vanwezer, N., Hatton, A., Alqahtani, M., Zalmout, I., Clark-Wilson, R., Al-Mufarreh, Y. S. A., Al-Shanti, M., Zahrani, B., Al Omari, A., Al-Jibreen, F., Alsharekh, A. M., Scerri, E. M. L., Boivin, N., Petraglia, M. D., & Groucutt, H. S. (2024). First evidence for human occupation of a lava tube in Arabia: The archaeology of Umm Jirsan Cave and its surroundings, northern Saudi Arabia. PLOS ONE, 19(4), e0299292. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299292
Stöffler, D., Artemieva, N. A., Wünnemann, K., Reimold, W. U., Jacob, J., Hansen, B. K., & Summerson, I. A. T. (2013). Ries crater and suevite revisited—observations and modeling Part I: Observations. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 48(4), 515–589. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.12086
Treiman, A. H., Amundsen, H. E., Blake, D. F., & Bunch, T. (2002). Hydrothermal origin for carbonate globules in Martian meteorite ALH84001: A terrestrial analogue from Spitsbergen (Norway). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 204(3–4), 323–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0012-821x(02)00998-6
Van Kranendonk, M., Philippot, P., Lepot, K., Bodorkos, S., & Pirajno, F. (2008). Geological setting of Earth's oldest fossils in the ca. 3.5Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Precambrian Research, 167(1–2), 93–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2008.07.003
Wierzchos, J., Ascaso, C., & McKay, C. P. (2006). Endolithic cyanobacteria in halite rocks from the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert. Astrobiology, 6(3), 415–422. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2006.6.415
Williams, J.-P. (2016). LRO Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment global cumulative products (LRO-L-DLRE-5-GCP-V1.0) [Data set]. NASA Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/lro/diviner.htm
Williams, J.-P., Paige, D., Greenhagen, B., & Sefton-Nash, E. (2017). The global surface temperatures of the Moon as measured by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment. Icarus, 283, 300–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.08.012
Xiao, L., Wang, J., Dang, Y., Cheng, Z., Huang, T., Zhao, J., Xu, Y., Huang, J., Xiao, Z., & Komatsu, G. (2017). A new terrestrial analogue site for Mars research: The Qaidam Basin, Tibetan Plateau (NW China). Earth-Science Reviews, 164, 84–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.11.003
Zuber, M. T., Head, J. W., Smith, D. E., Neumann, G. A., Mazarico, E., Torrence, M. H., Aharonson, O., Tye, A. R., Fassett, C. I., Rosenburg, M. A., & Melosh, H. J. (2012). Constraints on the volatile distribution within Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole. Nature, 486(7403), 378–381. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11216

Glossary

Analogue environment: A place on Earth that resembles part of another world in some specific, useful way.; No analogue matches in every respect; each is chosen for particular properties such as rock type, temperature or terrain.
Digital elevation model (DEM): A grid of ground heights, like a map made of height numbers.; Terratoria uses LOLA (Moon), MOLA (Mars) and Copernicus DEM (Earth), all resampled to 463 m cells.
Spatial resolution: The size of the smallest detail a dataset can show.; Comparing data at different resolutions is misleading, so everything is brought to one baseline first.
Surface roughness: How bumpy the ground is at a chosen scale.; Here: the standard deviation of elevation after subtracting the local 5 × 5 cell mean, at 463 m.
Hypsometric integral: Whether a landscape is mostly high ground with deep cuts, or mostly low ground with peaks.; (mean − minimum) ÷ (maximum − minimum) elevation in the window; 0.5 is evenly balanced.
Regolith: The loose layer of dust and broken rock covering solid bedrock.; Lunar regolith is formed by impacts, not weather, so its grains are sharp and glassy.
Permanently shadowed region: A crater floor near a pole that sunlight never reaches.; Temperatures stay near 40 K, cold enough to trap water ice for billions of years.
Thermal inertia: How slowly a surface heats up and cools down.; Rock has high thermal inertia and dust has low. It was not compared in this version.
Aeolian processes: Shaping of the land by wind: dunes, ripples, sand-blasted rock.; Active on Mars and Earth; absent on the airless Moon.
Mineral spectroscopy: Identifying minerals from the colours of light they reflect or emit.; Terratoria does not process spectra; mineral tags come from published studies.
Bolometric brightness temperature: A single surface temperature worked out from all the heat an instrument measures.; The Diviner value used for the Moon's temperature.
Reanalysis: A weather model continually corrected with real observations to fill in a complete global record.; MERRA-2, behind NASA POWER, is the source of Earth temperatures and wind here.