DESCRIPTION |
Instrument Overview
===================
The Microscopic Imager (MI) is a fixed-focus camera mounted
on the end of an extendable instrument arm, the Instrument
Deployment Device (IDD). The MI was designed to acquire images
at a spatial resolution of 30 microns/pixel over a broad
spectral range (400 - 700 nm). The MI uses the same electronics
design as the other MER cameras but has optics that yield a
field of view of 31 x 31 mm across a 1024 x 1024 pixel
charge-coupled device (CCD) image. The MI acquires images using
only solar or skylight illumination of the target surface. A
contact sensor is used to place the MI slightly closer to the
target surface than its best focus distance (about 69 mm),
allowing concave surfaces to be imaged in good focus. Coarse
focusing (~ 2 mm precision) is achieved by moving the IDD away
from a rock target after the contact sensor has been activated.
The MI optics are protected from the Martian environment by a
retractable dust cover. The dust cover includes a Kapton window
that is tinted orange to restrict the spectral bandpass to 500
700 nm, allowing color information to be obtained by taking images
with the dust cover open and closed. MI data will be used to place
other MER instrument data in context and to aid in petrologic and
geologic interpretations of rocks and soils on Mars.
Information in this instrument description is taken from the Athena
Microscopic Imager Investigation paper[HERKENHOFFETAL2003]. See
this paper for more details.
Scientific Objectives
=====================
The chief scientific objectives of the MI are:
1) to image fine-scale morphology and reflectance of natural rock
and surfaces,
2) to image fine-scale texture and reflectance of abraded rock
surfaces,
3) to aid in the interpretation of data gathered by other Athena
instruments by imaging areas examined by them at high resolution,
and
4) to monitor the accumulation of dust on the capture and filter
magnets.
Calibration
===========
Many of the MI components were tested before they were built into
the cameras, primarily to verify performance. Many component-level
tests are important to overall camera calibration, including
spectral transmission of the optics, filters, and dust cover
windows, calibration of temperature sensors, and performance of the
CCDs. The spectral transmission of the optical barrel assemblies was
tested by the optics vendor, Kaiser Electro-Optics. The spectral
transmission of the MI filters was measured at JPL, and the dust
cover window spectral transmission was measured at the NASA Johnson
Space Center. The temperature sensors were calibrated at the vendor,
Rosemount Aerospace. The CCDs used in the MER cameras were
thoroughly tested at JPL; the results of these tests (including
photon transfer/linearity, dark current, flat field, residual bulk
image, and spectral quantum efficiency) were used to select the best
CCDs for the flight cameras. Residual bulk image is most prevalent
at low temperatures and long (near-IR) wavelengths and is therefore
not expected to be significant for the MI. The details of the CCD
tests are given in MER project document 420-1-485 (JPL D-20247).
The MER science cameras were assembled, tested, and calibrated in
a clean laboratory environment at JPL. The laboratory configuration
and equipment were customized for MER testing and calibration. Most
of the science camera testing and calibration was done in two labs,
one for ambient testing and another for thermal/vacuum testing. The
geometric and other tests that were not significantly affected by
temperature were performed at room temperature and pressure on
optical benches with electrostatic discharge protection. Three
science cameras (2 Pancams, 1 MI) were tested together in the
thermal/vacuum chamber, all three viewing external targets and
sources through an optical grade quartz window. The thermal tests
and calibration were performed under high vacuum (<10-6 torr) at a
variety of temperatures spanning the expected temperature range on
the surface of Mars. Flight-acceptance thermal cycling was performed
before camera calibration, and some calibration data were acquired
during the acceptance tests. At very low temperature (163 K), the
optimum video offset for each camera was determined by measuring the
dark current in zero-exposure images and avoiding clipping the
signal to zero DN. Most of the MI calibration was done at the
extremes of the operating temperature range (218 K and 278 K) and at
one intermediate temperature (263 K). All tests were successfully
performed during the period July-September, 2002; 18.4 Gbytes of MI
calibration data were generated and copied to the USGS for reduction
and analysis.
Operational Considerations
==========================
The MI has several performance requirements:
1) Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV) of 30 +/-1.5 micrometers/pixel
on-axis
2) Field of View (FOV) of 1024 x 1024 square pixels
3) Spectral bandpass of 400-680 nanometers
4) Effective depth of field of >+/-3 millimeters
5) Optics MTF >0.35 at 30 lp/mm over spectral bandpass at best
focus
6) Radiometric calibration absolute accuracy of <20% and relative
(pixel-to-pixel) accuracy of <5%
7) Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) >100 for exposures of >20% full
well over the spectral bandpass within the calibrated operating
temperature range
8) Temperature sensor, accurate to +/-2 K, on the CCD
package that can be read out and associated with the image data
in telemetry
9) Working f/# = 15 +/-0.75
10) Operating temperature range within calibrated specifications
= 218 +/-2 K to 278 +/-2 K
Other circumstances that would affect the performance of the MI are
involved in the positioning of the IDD. The IDD positioning
requirements are:
1) Position instruments to an angular accuracy of 5 degrees in free
space within the dexterous workspace of the
Instrument Positioning System (IPS)
2) Position instruments to a positional accuracy of 5 mm in free
space within the dexterous workspace of the IPS
3) Repeatably position instruments to +/-4 mm in position and +/-3
degrees in orientation
4) Positioning each in situ payload element to within 10 mm of a
science target that has not been previously contacted by another
in situ instrument
5) Orient each in situ payload element to within 10 degrees of
normal to a science target's local surface that has not been
previously contacted by another in situ instrument
6) After placing the MI in position for imaging, the motion of the
IDD shall damp down to an amplitude of less than 30 microns
within 15 seconds
Detectors and Electronics
=========================
To reduce complexity and cost, all MER cameras share the same
electronics design. Some aspects of the MER camera design were
inherited from the cameras built for the Athena Precursor
Experiment. The MER cameras include a Mitel front-side illuminated,
frame-transfer charge-coupled device (CCD) with 1024 x 2048 pixels.
Half of the array is covered by aluminum and is used for image
storage during readout. Immediately following image integration of
0 to 335.5 seconds, the image is transferred into the storage area
in 5.12 msec. Readout of a full image then requires 5.2 seconds,
after which another integration may begin. The serial register has
16 extra reference pixels on each end that are read out along with
each line of data. The reference pixels are not exposed to light and
therefore measure the bias level as each line of data is read out.
The value of the last reference pixel is always replaced with the
camera serial number. Within the operating temperature range of
218 K to 278 K, the MI has a full well depth in excess of 140,000
electrons and read noise of about 30 electrons. The gain of the MER
science cameras (~50 e-/DN) was designed to optimize the 12-bit
digitization over the expected full well of the CCDs. The video
offset can be set by command to bias the dynamic range of the CCD
analog output relative to the range of the analog-to-digital
converter. After conversion, 12-bit digital image data are sent to
the rover computer. The non-operating (survival) temperature range
of the cameras is 163 K to 328 K. The temperature of the MI CCD and
electronics will not be controlled during flight, so variations in
performance with Athena Microscopic Imager temperature were
carefully measured. Temperature sensors on the MI CCDs and
electronics will return data for each image obtained, allowing
temperature calibration to be applied.
Simple image processing tasks can be performed onboard the rovers to
correct for transfer smear, bad pixels, and flat field variations.
These processing options can be applied in sequence or one at a
time. The correction for frame transfer smear, or shutter effect,
can be applied if the exposure time is less than a given threshold.
This conditional shutter correction will be very useful in
conjunction with autoexposure, when the exposure time will not be
known in advance. If the shutter correction is applied, a
zero-second exposure is acquired immediately after the image to be
corrected and subtracted from the original image.
Filters
=======
The MI has a Schott BG-40 (light blue) filter that yields a spectral
response similar to that of the human eye. This restriction of the
MI bandpass also increases the exposure time needed to image typical
scenes on Mars and therefore reduces transfer smear.
Optics
======
The MI optics employ a fixed focus, f/15 Cooke triplet design that
provides +/-3 mm depth-of-field at 30 um/pixel sampling. The field
of view is therefore 31 x 31 mm at the working distance. The focal
length is 20 mm, and the working distance is 69 mm from the front of
the lens barrel to the object plane. The first element in the optics
assembly is a durable sapphire window that is less likely to be
damaged by windblown debris or inadvertent contact with objects on
Mars. It is included to protect the rest of the MI optics. The
object to image distance of 100 mm was selected with instrument
accommodation as the primary constraint. This design places the MI
best focus position at approximately the same distance from the IDD
turret axis as the target position for the other IDD instruments.
Because the MI has a relatively small depth of field (+/- 3 mm),
a single MI image of a rough surface will contain both focused and
unfocused areas.
Location
========
The MI is mounted on the IDD turret, between the RAT and the APXS.
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