Geometric correction for thermographic images of asteroid 162173 Ryugu by TIR (thermal infrared imager) onboard Hayabusa2

Abstract

Abstract The thermal infrared imager (TIR) onboard the Hayabusa2 spacecraft performed thermographic observations of the asteroid 162173 Ryugu (1999 JU $$_3$$ 3 ) from June 2018 to November 2019. Our previous reports revealed that the surface of Ryugu was globally filled with porous materials and had high surface roughness. These results were derived from making the observed temperature maps of TIR using a projection method onto the shape model of Ryugu as geometric corrections. The pointing directions of TIR were calculated using an interpolation of data from the SPICE kernels (NASA/NAIF) during the periods when the optical navigation camera (ONC) and the light detection and ranging (LIDAR) observations were performed. However, the mapping accuracy of the observed TIR images was degraded when the ONC and LIDAR were not performed with TIR. Also, the orbital and attitudinal fluctuations of Hayabusa2 increased the error of the temperature maps. In this paper, to solve the temperature image mapping problems, we improved the correction method by fitting all of the observed TIR images with the surface coordinate addressed on the high-definition shape model of Ryugu (SFM 800k v20180804). This correction adjusted the pointing direction of TIR by rotating the TIR frame relative to the Hayabusa2 frame using a least squares fit. As a result, the temperature maps spatially spreading areas were converged within high-resolved $$0.5^\circ$$ 0 . 5 ∘ by $$0.5^\circ$$ 0 . 5 ∘ maps. The estimated thermal inertia, for instance, was approximately 300 $$\sim$$ ∼ 350 Jm $$^{-2}$$ - 2 s $$^{-0.5}$$ - 0.5 K $$^{-1}$$ - 1 at the hot area of the Ejima Saxum. This estimation was succeeded in case that the surface topographic features were larger than the pixel scale of TIR. However, the thermal inertia estimation of smooth terrains, such as the Urashima crater, was difficult because of surface roughness effects, where roughness was probably much smaller than the pixel scale of TIR.

Keywords

• Hayabysa2
• Asteroid
• Ryugu
• Thermal infrared imager
• TIR
• Shape model