PDS_VERSION_ID = PDS3 LABEL_REVISION_NOTE = " 2006-12-27 SOC:Carcich Initial version; " RECORD_TYPE = STREAM OBJECT = INSTRUMENT INSTRUMENT_HOST_ID = "NH" INSTRUMENT_ID = "MVIC" OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_INFORMATION INSTRUMENT_NAME = "MULTISPECTRAL VISIBLE IMAGING CAMERA" INSTRUMENT_TYPE = "IMAGING CAMERA" INSTRUMENT_DESC = " ######################################################################## ######################################################################## REQUIRED READING: - Reuter et al. (2005) - Reuter et al. (2007) - SOC Instrument Interface Control Document (ICD) ######################################################################## ######################################################################## The MVIC description was was adapted from Reuter et al. (2005), the MVIC section of the SOC Instrument ICD (provided in the documentation with this archive), Reuter et al. (2007) (also provided with this archive), and the New Horizons website. INSTRUMENT OVERVIEW ======== MVIC operates at visible wavelengths and has 7 different detectors. Four have color filters for producing color maps. One filter is tailored to measure the methane frost distribution over the surface, while the others are more generic and cover blue, red and near-infrared colors, respectively. MVIC also has three panchromatic detectors, which pass essentially all visible light, for when maximum sensitivity to faint light levels is required. In all cases, the light passes from the telescope through a filter and is focused onto the charge coupled device (CCD). SPECIFICATIONS -------- NAME: MVIC (Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera) DESCRIPTION: Imaging camera PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Alan Stern, SwRI WAVELENGTH RANGE: (Note 1) FIELD OF VIEW: 100 x N mRad (Note 2); 100 x 2.6 mRad (Note 3) ANGULAR RESOLUTION: 0.02 mRad/pixel WAVELENGTH RESOLUTION: See filter bandpasses (Note 1) Note 1: Wavelength ranges/filter bandpasses. For more details see the individual filter transmission curves in the CALIB directory. - From Reuter et al. (2007) [REUTERETAL2007] 400 - 975nm (Panchromatic) 400 - 550nm (Blue) 540 - 700nm (Red) 780 - 975nm (NIR) 860 - 910nm (CH4) Note 2: Time-delay integration (color and two panchromatic arrays). The length of the scan determines the dimension of the scan denoted by N. Note 3: Pan frame array only. DESCRIPTION -------- MVIC uses two large format (5024x32 pixel) CCD arrays to provide panchromatic (400 to 1000 nm) hemispheric maps of Pluto at a double sampled spatial resolution of 1 km by 1 km or better. Four additional 5024x32 CCDs provide hemispheric maps in blue, red, Near IR and narrow band methane color channels. These 6 arrays all operate in time delay integration (TDI or pushbroom) mode to increase sensitivity. In addition to the TDI arrays, MVIC has a 5024x128 element frame transfer array. For each of the arrays, the 12 pixels at both edges are not opically active. Scientific Objectives ======== Hemispheric panchromatic maps of Pluto and Charon at best resolution exceeding 0.5 km/pixel Hemispheric 4-color maps of Pluto and Charon at best resolution exceeding 5 km/pixel Search for/map atmospheric hazes at a vertical resolution < 5 km High resolution panchromatic maps of the terminator region Panchromatic, wide phase angle coverage of Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra Panchromatic stereo images of Pluto and Charon, Nix, and Hydra Orbital parameters, bulk parameters of Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra Search for rings Search for additional satellites Calibration ======== See Reuter et al. (2007) especially sections 5 and 6. Detectors ======== MVIC is composed of 7 independent CCD arrays on a single substrate. It uses two of its large format (5024x32 pixel) CCD arrays, operated in time delay integration (TDI) mode, to provide panchromatic (400 to 975 nm) images. Four additional 5024x32 CCDs, combined with the appropriate filters and also operated in TDI mode, provide the capability of mapping in blue (400-550 nm), red (540-700 nm), near IR (780-975 nm) and narrow band methane (860-910 nm) channels. TDI operates by synchronizing the parallel transfer rate of each of the CCDs thirty-two 5024 pixel wide rows to the relative motion of the image across the detector's surface. In this way, very large format images are obtained as the spacecraft scans the FOV rapidly across the surface. The presence of 32 rows effectively increases the integration time by that same factor, allowing high signal-to-noise measurements. Electronics ======== The Ralph control electronics consist of three boards; detector electronics (DE), command and data handling (C&DH) and a low voltage power supply (LVPS). These are contained within an electronics box (EB) mounted directly to the spacecraft, below the TDA (see Fig. 2), and operate essentially at the spacecraft surface temperature, which is near ambient. The DE board provides biases and clocks to both focal planes, amplifies the signals from the arrays and performs the A/D conversion of the imaging data. The science data are converted with 12 bits per pixel. The C&DH board interprets the commands, does the A/D conversion of the low speed engineering data and provides both the high speed imaging data interface and the low speed housekeeping data interface. The LVPS converts the 30V spacecraft power to the various voltages required by Ralph. Filters ======== - From Reuter et al. (2007) [REUTERETAL2007] 400 - 975nm (Panchromatic) 400 - 550nm (Blue) 540 - 700nm (Red) 780 - 975nm (NIR) 860 - 910nm (CH4) Optics ======== See description above. Also: The FOV of a single MVIC pixel is 20x20 microradian^2. The panchromatic (pan) channels of MVIC will be used to produce hemispheric maps of Pluto and Charon at a double sampled spatial resolution of 1 km2 or better. The static FOV of each of the TDI arrays is 5.7 degrees x 0.037 degrees. In addition to the TDI arrays, MVIC has a 5024x128 element, frame transfer panchromatic array operated in staring mode, with an FOV of 5.7 degrees x 0.15 degrees. The primary purpose of the framing array is to provide data for optical navigation (OpNav) of the spacecraft. Operational Modes ======== RALPH-MVIC modes are intertwined with RALPH-LEISA modes. See Reuter et al. (2007), Section 7.0 'IN-FLIGHT INSTRUMENT OPERATION' for details. Measured Parameters ======== Radiance; errors less than one DN as of 20.April 2007. See Reuter et al. (2007) section 6.0 COMBINED 'PRE-LAUNCH AND IN-FLIGHT INSTRUMENT CALIBRATION RESULTS' for more details. " END_OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_INFORMATION OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_REFERENCE_INFO REFERENCE_KEY_ID = "REUTERETAL2007" END_OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_REFERENCE_INFO OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_REFERENCE_INFO REFERENCE_KEY_ID = "REUTERETAL2005" END_OBJECT = INSTRUMENT_REFERENCE_INFO END_OBJECT = INSTRUMENT END