The mercury radiometer and thermal infrared imaging spectrometer (MERTIS) onboard Bepi Colombo: first inflight calibration results

Mario D'Amore; Jörn Helbert; Alessandro Maturilli; Indhu Varatharajan; Bernd Ulmer; Thomas Säuberlich; Rainer Berlin; Gisbert Peter; Harald Hiesinger; Gabriele Arnold

doi:10.1117/12.2529089

9 September 2019 The mercury radiometer and thermal infrared imaging spectrometer (MERTIS) onboard Bepi Colombo: first inflight calibration results

Mario D'Amore, Jörn Helbert, Alessandro Maturilli, Indhu Varatharajan, Bernd Ulmer, Thomas Säuberlich, Rainer Berlin, Gisbert Peter, Harald Hiesinger, Gabriele Arnold

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11128, Infrared Remote Sensing and Instrumentation XXVII; 111280U (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2529089
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2019, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The MErcury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) is an instrument to study the mineralogy and temperature distribution of Mercury’s surface in unprecedented detail. MERTIS was proposed in 2003 as payload of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter spacecraft of ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission and will reach Mercury in 2025. MERTIS will map the whole surface at 500 m scale, combining a push-broom IR grating spectrometer (TIS) with a radiometer (TIR) sharing the same optics, instrument electronics and in-flight calibration components for the whole wavelength range of 7- 14μm (TIS) and 7-40μm (TIR). MERTIS successfully completed its planned tests of the Near-Earth Commissioning Phase (NECP) between 13 and 14 November, collecting thousands of measurements of its internal calibration bodies and deep space. The data collected during NECP, are being used to verify the operational performances of onboard sub-modules, in particular the spectrometer and radiometer sensor sensitivity. A preliminary look at calibrated data shows a performance comparable with ground-based measurements and no appreciable performance loss or misalignment. The next important dates for MERTIS are the Earth/Moon flyby on 6 April 2020 and the first Venus flyby on 12 October 2020. Both those encounters will be important both for further instrument calibration refinement and for possible unprecedented measurement in the thermal infrared of the Moon and Venus.

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Mario D'Amore, Jörn Helbert, Alessandro Maturilli, Indhu Varatharajan, Bernd Ulmer, Thomas Säuberlich, Rainer Berlin, Gisbert Peter, Harald Hiesinger, and Gabriele Arnold "The mercury radiometer and thermal infrared imaging spectrometer (MERTIS) onboard Bepi Colombo: first inflight calibration results", Proc. SPIE 11128, Infrared Remote Sensing and Instrumentation XXVII, 111280U (9 September 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2529089

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