Instrument Information |
|
IDENTIFIER | urn:nasa:pds:context:instrument:nh.lorri::1.0 |
NAME |
LONG RANGE RECONNAISSANCE IMAGER |
TYPE |
IMAGER |
DESCRIPTION |
######################################################################## ######################################################################## REQUIRED READING: - Cheng et al. (2007) [CHENGETAL2007] - Conard et al. (2005) [CONARDETAL2005] ######################################################################## ######################################################################## The LORRI description was was adapted from Conard et al. (2005), Cheng et al. (2007), and the New Horizons website. INSTRUMENT OVERVIEW =================== The LOng-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is an instrument that was designed, fabricated, and qualified for the New Horizons mission to the outermost planet Pluto, its giant satellite Charon, and the Kuiper Belt, which is the vast belt of icy bodies extending roughly from Neptune's orbit out to 50 astronomical units (AU). New Horizons is being prepared for launch in January 2006 as the inaugural mission in NASA's New Frontiers program. SPECIFICATIONS -------------- NAME: LORRI (Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager) DESCRIPTION: High-resolution telescope PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Andy Cheng, APL WAVELENGTH RANGE: 350 - 850nm FIELD OF VIEW: 5.06 x 5.06 degrees ANGULAR RESOLUTION: 0.00494 milliradians WAVELENGTH RESOLUTION: N/A DESCRIPTION ----------- LORRI is a narrow angle (field of view=0.29 deg), high resolution (instantaneous field of view = 4.94 urad), Ritchey-Chretien telescope with a 20.8 cm diameter primary mirror, a focal length of 263 cm, and a three lens field-flattening assembly. A 1024 x 1024 pixel (optically active region), back-thinned, backside-illuminated charge-coupled device (CCD) detector (model CCD 47-20 from E2V Technologies) is located at the telescope focal plane and is operated in standard frame-transfer mode. LORRI does not have any color filters; it provides panchromatic imaging over a wide bandpass that extends approximately from 350 nm to 850 nm. A unique aspect of LORRI is the extreme thermal environment, as the instrument is situated inside a near room temperature spacecraft, while pointing primarily at cold space. This environment forced the use of a silicon carbide optical system, which is designed to maintain focus over the operating temperature range without a focus adjustment mechanism. Another challenging aspect of the design is that the spacecraft will be thruster stabilized (no reaction wheels), which places stringent limits on the available exposure time and the optical throughput needed to accomplish the high-resolution observations required. LORRI was designed and fabricated by a combined effort of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and SSG Precision Optronics Incorporated (SSG). LORRI has four subassemblies in close proximity connected by electrical harnesses. These are the optical telescope assembly (OTA), the aperture cover door, the associated support electronics (ASE), and the focal plane unit (FPU). Except for the door, all are mounted inside the spacecraft on its central deck; the door is mounted to an external spacecraft panel. LORRI is electronically shuttered, with no moving parts aside from the cover door. The ASE implements all electrical interfaces between LORRI and the spacecraft except for the door control, several spacecraft thermistors, and two decontamination heaters. Figure 3 is a block diagram of the instrument. Conard et al. (2005) give a detailed description of LORRI design, manufacture and test. Scientific Objectives ===================== Hemispheric panchromatic maps of Pluto and Charon at best resolution exceeding 0.5 km/pixel. Search for atmospheric haze at a vertical resolution <5 km Long time base of observations, extending over 10 to 12 Pluto rotations Panchromatic maps of the far-side hemisphere High resolution panchromatic maps of the terminator region Panchromatic, wide phase angle coverage of Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra Panchromatic stereo images of Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra Orbital parameters, bulk parameters of Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra Search for satellites and rings Calibration =========== See Cheng et al. (2007). Detectors ========= Frame transfer CCD. See Cheng et al. (2007) for details. Electronics =========== LORRI electronics consist of the ASE and FPU. The ASE contains three printed circuit cards. These are the low voltage power supply (LVPS), the event processor unit (EPU), and the imager input/output (IM I/O). The ASE is the primary interface between the spacecraft and the FPU, which mounts and controls the CCD. Additional information can be found in Conard et al. (2005). Filters ======= None. Optics ====== The LORRI OTA is a Ritchey-Chretien design, with high system throughput required because of the short allowed exposure time and low light level at Pluto. The complete LORRI OTA design was evaluated with a computer-aided design model including stray light analysis. Specular reflections and bidirectional reflectance distribution functions of the Aeroglaze Z-306 black paint, primary and secondary mirrors, field group optics and focal plane were included in the model. The primary and secondary baffle tubes were sized to minimize obscuration and suppress direct paths to the FPA's active area. The telescope magnification and obscuration were balanced, affecting the optical sensitivity and MTF, respectively. Out-of-field stray light was evaluated by generating point source transmittance curves with angular scans across the boresight in two orthogonal directions (-70 degrees to ++70 degrees for each scan) to search for any obscured paths with unacceptable amplitude. See Cheng et al. (2007) for more details. Operational Modes ================= LORRI high-rate image data telemetry APID definitions C&DH binning APID side mode compression type 0x630 1 1x1 lossless 0x631 1 1x1 packetized 0x632 1 1x1 lossy 0x633 1 4x4 lossless 0x634 1 4x4 packetized 0x635 1 4x4 lossy 0x636 2 1x1 lossless 0x637 2 1x1 packetized 0x638 2 1x1 lossy 0x639 2 4x4 lossless 0x63A 2 4x4 packetized 0x63B 2 4x4 lossy Measured Parameters =================== Radiance. |
MODEL IDENTIFIER | |
NAIF INSTRUMENT IDENTIFIER |
not applicable |
SERIAL NUMBER |
not applicable |
REFERENCES |
Superseded by [CHENGETAL2008], Cheng, A.F., H.A. Weaver, S.J. Conard, M.F.
Morgan, O. Barnouin-Jha, J.D. Boldt, K.A. Cooper, E.H. Darlington, M.P. Grey,
J.R. Hayes, K.E. Kosakowski, T. Magee, E. Rossano, D. Sampath, C. Schlemm, and
H.W. Taylor, Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager on New Horizons, Space Sci. Rev.,
Volume 140, Numbers 1-4, pp. 189-215, 2008. Conard, S.J., F. Azad, J.D. Boldt, A. Cheng, K.A. Cooper, E.H. Darlington, M.P. Grey, J.R. Hayes, P. Hogue, K.E. Kosakowski, T. Magee, M.F. Morgan, E. Rossano, D. Sampath, C. Schlemm, and H.A. Weaver, Design and Fabrication of the New Horizons Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager, Astrobiology and Planetary Missions, G.R. Gladstone, ed., Proceedings of SPIE 5906, 2005. Morgan, F., S.J. Conard, H.A. Weaver, O. Barnouin-Jha, A.F. Cheng, H.W. Taylor, K.A. Cooper, R.H. Barkhouser, R. Boucarut, E.H. Darlington, M.P. Grey, I. Kuznetsov, T.J. Madison, M.A. Quijada, D.J. Sahnow, and J.M. Stock, Calibration of the New Horizons Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager, Astrobiology and Planetary Missions, G.R. Gladstone, ed., Proceedings of SPIE, vol. 5906, 2005. |