https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxeejp0y2pjo
During the descent, an autonomous visual obstacle avoidance system was used to automatically detect obstacles, with a visible light camera selecting a comparatively safe landing area based on the brightness and darkness of the lunar surface, the CNSA was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.
The lander hovered about 100m (328ft) above the safe landing area, and used a laser 3D scanner before a slow vertical descent.
That’s super neat. When the floodlights came on I figured it was just doing it for the clarity of the footage before a preset landing sequence started. Have any of the Mars probes had such sophisticated real-time landing systems?
I do think Mars probes also use real time telemetry when landing, but not sure how sophisticated it is.
The Perseverance lander took real time video of the descent to identify interesting places to visit, so I would say it’s fairly sophisticated at this point.
