Lunar Surface Model Age Derivation: Comparisons Between Automatic and Human Crater Counting Using LRO‐NAC and Kaguya TC Images

Abstract Dating young lunar surfaces, such as impact ejecta blankets and terrains associated with recent volcanic activities, provides critical information on the recent events that shaped the surface of the Moon. Model age derivation of young or small areas using a crater chronology is typically achieved through manual counting, which requires a lot of small impact craters to be tediously mapped. In this study, we present the use of a Crater Detection Algorithm (CDA) to extract crater populations on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter—Narrow Angle Camera (LRO‐NAC) and Kaguya Terrain Camera images. We applied our algorithm to images covering the ejecta blankets of four Copernican impact craters and across four young mare terrains, where manually derived model ages were already published. Across the eight areas, 10 model ages were derived. We assessed the reproducibility of our model using two populations for each site: (a) an unprocessed population and (b) a population adjusted to remove contaminations of secondary and buried craters. The results showed that unprocessed detections led to overestimating crater densities by 12%–48%, but “adjusted” populations produced consistent results within