Calibration of Images from the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite

This talk was presented at the April 17, 2021 (AY2020-21) Arizona NASA Space Grant Statewide Undergraduate Research Symposium. The event was virtually available via Zoom.

Submitted abstract:

The OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) has been acquiring images of asteroid Bennu since 2018 in preparation for the sample collection that was performed in October 2020. Image calibration removes noise and is important for drawing scientific conclusions from the images. Charge smear is a common source of noise for frame transfer detectors; although the current method of charge smear correction is acceptable, it requires an additional correction factor that takes time to find and has some uncertainty. We tested several techniques to address these factors and ultimately implemented an optimization function that has been shown to increase the accuracy and efficiency of the charge smear correction. The primary benefit of this work is improved calibration of OCAMS images, but it also demonstrates a discrepancy between the theoretical and experimental correction. Further investigation into this discrepancy might improve our understanding of the physical and electronic characteristics that affect the detector’s physical operation.