Ground scientific verification test for High Resolution Imaging Camera of China's First Mars Mission

Author(s):  
Wei Yan ◽  
Jianjun Liu ◽  
Xiaoxia Zhang ◽  
Dawei Liu ◽  
Donghao Liu

<p>Mars is a planet in the solar system that is closer to the Earth and has the most similar natural environment to the Earth. It has always been the first choice for humans to go out of the Earth and Moon system for deep space exploration.</p><p>China’s First Mars Mission (HX-1) will be launched in 2020 with an orbiter and a lander rover. One of the scientific goals of our mission is to study the morphology and geologic structure of the Mars. In order to achieve this purpose, the orbiter is equipped with a High Resolution Imaging Camera (HiRIC) to obtain the high-resolution morphology data of typical regions and to study the formation and evolution of geologic structure. HiRIC consists of three TDI CCD line-scan detectors and two COMS area-array detectors. Each TDI CCD detector covers 5 spectral bands. Its main working mode is the panchromatic TDI CCD push-scan imaging with a maximum spatial resolution of 0.5m.</p><p>Ground scientific verification test is an effective way to comprehensively evaluate the performance, data quality of HiRIC, and to fully verify its on-orbit detection process and data processing methods. In this study, contents and results of ground scientific verification test for HiRIC is introduced. The engineering model is used here for image motion compensation effect evaluation test, focusing effect evaluation test, and outdoor field imaging test. The results show that, 1) HiRIC can calculate the image motion compensation parameters and control the camera imaging correctly according to the platform parameters of orbiter; 2) Focus processing is effective, and HiRIC can adapt to the high-resolution imaging needs of different orbit altitudes; 3) Clear image data can be obtained according to the on-orbit detection process in the outdoor field imaging test, and image data processing was correct. Image data quality, compression quality, and TDI CCD stitching accuracy all meet the requirements of the verification test. This test fully evaluated HiRIC's ability to obtain high-resolution image data of the surface of Mars.</p>

2021 ◽  
Vol 217 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Yan ◽  
Jianjun Liu ◽  
Xin Ren ◽  
Chunlai Li ◽  
Qiang Fu ◽  
...  

AbstractHigh-resolution optical cameras have always been important scientific payloads in Mars exploration missions, which can obtain detailed images of Martian surface for the study of geomorphology, topography and geological structure. At present, there are still many challenges for Mars high-resolution images in terms of global coverage, stereo coverage (especially for colour images), and data processing methods. High Resolution Imaging Camera (HiRIC) is a high-quality, multi-mode, multi-functional, multi-spectral remote sensing camera that is suitable for the deep space developed for China’s first Mars Exploration Mission (Tianwen-1), which was successfully launched in July 2020. Here we design special experiments based on the in-orbit detection conditions of Tianwen-1 mission to comprehensively verify the detection capability and the performance of HiRIC, from the aspects of image motion compensation effect, focusing effect, image compression quality, and data preprocessing accuracy. The results showed that the performance status of HiRIC meets the requirements of obtaining high resolution images on the Martian surface. Furthermore, proposals for HiRIC in-orbit imaging strategy and data processing are discussed to ensure the acquisition of high-quality HiRIC images, which is expected to serve as a powerful complementation to the current Mars high-resolution images.


2007 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 053716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivo Klinkert ◽  
Liam A. McDonnell ◽  
Stefan L. Luxembourg ◽  
A. F. Maarten Altelaar ◽  
Erika R. Amstalden ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 217 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingyu Meng ◽  
Dong Wang ◽  
Xiaodong Wang ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Xianwei Yang ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 3439
Author(s):  
Wenhui Wan ◽  
Tianyi Yu ◽  
Kaichang Di ◽  
Jia Wang ◽  
Zhaoqin Liu ◽  
...  

Tianwen-1, China’s first Mars exploration mission, was successfully landed in the southern part of Utopia Planitia on 15 May 2021 (UTC+8). Timely and accurately determining the landing location is critical for the subsequent mission operations. For timely localization, the remote landmarks, selected from the panorama generated by the earliest received Navigation and Terrain Cameras (NaTeCam) images, were matched with the Digital Orthophoto Map (DOM) generated by high resolution imaging camera (HiRIC) images to obtain the initial result based on the triangulation method. Then, the initial localization result was refined by the descent images received later and the NaTeCam DOM. Finally, the lander location was determined to be (25.066°N, 109.925°E). Verified by the new orbital image with the lander and Zhurong rover visible, the localization accuracy was within a pixel of the HiRIC DOM.


2020 ◽  
Vol 636 ◽  
pp. A58 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Astudillo-Defru ◽  
R. Cloutier ◽  
S. X. Wang ◽  
J. Teske ◽  
R. Brahm ◽  
...  

We report the detection of a transiting super-Earth-sized planet (R = 1.39 ± 0.09 R⊕) in a 1.4-day orbit around L 168-9 (TOI-134), a bright M1V dwarf (V = 11, K = 7.1) located at 25.15 ± 0.02 pc. The host star was observed in the first sector of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. For confirmation and planet mass measurement purposes, this was followed up with ground-based photometry, seeing-limited and high-resolution imaging, and precise radial velocity (PRV) observations using the HARPS and Magellan/PFS spectrographs. By combining the TESS data and PRV observations, we find the mass of L 168-9 b to be 4.60 ± 0.56 M⊕ and thus the bulk density to be 1.74−0.33+0.44 times higher than that of the Earth. The orbital eccentricity is smaller than 0.21 (95% confidence). This planet is a level one candidate for the TESS mission’s scientific objective of measuring the masses of 50 small planets, and it is one of the most observationally accessible terrestrial planets for future atmospheric characterization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1029
Author(s):  
Zhencheng Tang ◽  
Jianjun Liu ◽  
Xing Wang ◽  
Xin Ren ◽  
Wei Yan ◽  
...  

The atmospheric dust is an important factor in the evolution of the Martian climate and has a major impact on the scientific exploration of the Martian lander or rover and its payload. This paper used remote sensing images to calculate atmospheric optical depth that characterizes the spatial distribution of the atmospheric dust of Mars. The optical depth calculated by the images of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) in the inspection area of the Spirit rover had a similar temporal variation to the optical depth directly measured by the Spirit rover from the sunlight decay. We also used the HiRISE images to acquire the seasonal variation of optical depths in the candidate landing area of China’s Mars Mission (Tianwen-1). The results have shown that the seasonal pattern of the optical depth in the candidate landing area is consistent with the dust storm sequences in this area. After Tianwen-1 enters the orbit around Mars, the images collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Camera (MoRIC), and the High Resolution Imaging Camera (HiRIC) can be used to study the atmospheric optical depth in the candidate landing area, providing reference for the safe landing and operation of the lander and rover.


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