Work

Evaluation of a benchtop commercial-off-the-shelf version of the NASA Psyche mission’s Multispectral Imager

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: A comprehensive characterization of a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) version of the Psyche Multispectral Imager is presented. The “COTS Imager” system was designed to mimic system-level properties of the flight Imager system and provide a testbed for developing procedures to be used in the preflight calibration and operation of the flight Imager. The COTS Imager system contains the same detector (a monochrome KAI-2020 CCD), a commercial lens with a similar f-number, commercially available readout electronics, and can be equipped with flight-like filters. At both ambient and the expected in-flight temperature (∼5°C), we measure the COTS Imager’s read noise, gain, and full well and demonstrate linearity with exposure time. Furthermore, we provide an assessment of the dark current and number of bad pixels of the detector at 5°C. We report the quantum efficiency and modulation transfer function of the COTS Imager at ambient conditions. Finally, we compare results of a radiometric model used to simulate COTS Imager performance to data measured with the system. This study demonstrates that low-cost, commercial hardware can replicate some of the performance of higher-fidelity flight hardware and serve as an effective testbed for developing software and procedures for calibration of the flight Imagers.

Source: Journal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and Systems

DOI: 10.1117/1.jatis.11.3.036002

Authors: Steven Dibb, Andrew Winhold, James F. Bell, David A. Williams

Institutions: Ames Research Center, Arizona State University

Language: English

Topic: CCD and CMOS Imaging Sensors

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Award: G587077505