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In-flight calibration of ESA Hera's HyperScout-H imager

Fuente: arXiv

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Prodan, G. P., Popescu, M., de León, J., Kovács, G., Küppers, M., Grieger, B., Guerbuez, C., Tatsumi, E., Licandro, J., López, A. Escalante, Nagy, V., Farina, A., Dumitru, B. A., Poggiali, G., Vincent, J. B., Kohout, T., Petrisor, I., Palomba, E., Esposito, M., Vercruyssen, N., Sugita, S., Lazzarin, M., Abell, P., Michel, P.
Format:	Preprint
Published:	2026
Subjects:	Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Online Access:	Acceder al recurso
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_version_	1866911578428801024
author	Prodan, G. P. Popescu, M. de León, J. Kovács, G. Küppers, M. Grieger, B. Guerbuez, C. Tatsumi, E. Licandro, J. López, A. Escalante Nagy, V. Farina, A. Dumitru, B. A. Poggiali, G. Vincent, J. B. Kohout, T. Petrisor, I. Palomba, E. Esposito, M. Vercruyssen, N. Sugita, S. Lazzarin, M. Abell, P. Michel, P.
author_facet	Prodan, G. P. Popescu, M. de León, J. Kovács, G. Küppers, M. Grieger, B. Guerbuez, C. Tatsumi, E. Licandro, J. López, A. Escalante Nagy, V. Farina, A. Dumitru, B. A. Poggiali, G. Vincent, J. B. Kohout, T. Petrisor, I. Palomba, E. Esposito, M. Vercruyssen, N. Sugita, S. Lazzarin, M. Abell, P. Michel, P.
contents	ESA's Hera space mission is on its way to the mission target, the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos. HyperScout-H, one of the instruments onboard Hera, is a hyperspectral imager operating in the visible and near-infrared regions between 0.65 and 0.95 microns. HyperScout-H will enable a detailed assessment of the composition of both objects, Didymos and its satellite Dimorphos, the characterization of space weathering effects, and the possible presence of exogenous material on their surfaces. To monitor instrument functionality, calibration exposures are acquired regularly. This article describes the in-flight calibrations carried out for HyperScout-H during the commissioning and cruise phases. Bias and dark exposures, as well as stellar field observations, were acquired several times after launch. We update the calibration data and monitor instrument performance in the space environment. In five images, the surface of Mars fills the entire field of view, enabling cross-validation of HyperScout-H results with those reported by other Mars missions. The calibration data indicate that the bias pattern is stable, the dark current remains negligible for short exposures, and the detector response is highly linear. We quantify the field-of-view alignment and geometric distortion, and evaluate the point spread function based on the stellar field observations. Stellar observations and Mars swing-by data provide updated radiometric calibration constants, suggesting that in-flight conditions have slightly modified the detector's spectral response. In-flight calibrations are essential to ensure data quality and reliability. The results obtained for HyperScout-H demonstrate that the instrument can achieve its scientific goals in observations of the Didymos-Dimorphos system.
format	Preprint
id	arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_08090
institution	arXiv
publishDate	2026
record_format	arxiv
spellingShingle	In-flight calibration of ESA Hera's HyperScout-H imager Prodan, G. P. Popescu, M. de León, J. Kovács, G. Küppers, M. Grieger, B. Guerbuez, C. Tatsumi, E. Licandro, J. López, A. Escalante Nagy, V. Farina, A. Dumitru, B. A. Poggiali, G. Vincent, J. B. Kohout, T. Petrisor, I. Palomba, E. Esposito, M. Vercruyssen, N. Sugita, S. Lazzarin, M. Abell, P. Michel, P. Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ESA's Hera space mission is on its way to the mission target, the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos. HyperScout-H, one of the instruments onboard Hera, is a hyperspectral imager operating in the visible and near-infrared regions between 0.65 and 0.95 microns. HyperScout-H will enable a detailed assessment of the composition of both objects, Didymos and its satellite Dimorphos, the characterization of space weathering effects, and the possible presence of exogenous material on their surfaces. To monitor instrument functionality, calibration exposures are acquired regularly. This article describes the in-flight calibrations carried out for HyperScout-H during the commissioning and cruise phases. Bias and dark exposures, as well as stellar field observations, were acquired several times after launch. We update the calibration data and monitor instrument performance in the space environment. In five images, the surface of Mars fills the entire field of view, enabling cross-validation of HyperScout-H results with those reported by other Mars missions. The calibration data indicate that the bias pattern is stable, the dark current remains negligible for short exposures, and the detector response is highly linear. We quantify the field-of-view alignment and geometric distortion, and evaluate the point spread function based on the stellar field observations. Stellar observations and Mars swing-by data provide updated radiometric calibration constants, suggesting that in-flight conditions have slightly modified the detector's spectral response. In-flight calibrations are essential to ensure data quality and reliability. The results obtained for HyperScout-H demonstrate that the instrument can achieve its scientific goals in observations of the Didymos-Dimorphos system.
title	In-flight calibration of ESA Hera's HyperScout-H imager
topic	Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url	https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.08090