Improved Radiometric calibration of land Imaging Systems (IRIS)

The Improved Radiometric calibration of future land Imaging Systems (IRIS) project addresses a key SLI program objective by developing and demonstrating technology to reduce risk, cost, size, volume, mass, and development time for next generation SLI instruments, while meeting or exceeding current land imaging program capabilities. IRIS addresses this SLI objective in two different, but complementary ways. The first way involves designing and building an ultra-compact, full RMA spectrum (0.4-2.3 micron and 6-13 micron) end-to-end calibration source and testing this source with the existing NASA ESTO Advanced Technology Land Imaging Spectroradiometer (ATLIS) free form reflective triplet telescope and VNIR FPA along with SWIR and uncooled TIR FPAs acquired as part of the proposed work. The NASA ESTO ATLIS project demonstrated that an advanced technology land imager with 160x less volume and 16x less mass than the Landsat 8 (L8) Operational Land Imager (OLI) meets L8 and RMA 2019 VSWIR requirements. IRIS extends ATLIS by reducing volume of the onboard calibration assembly, occupying roughly a third of the OLI volume, by 90% using an innovative, full-spectrum Jones source. IRIS will demonstrate a functionally complete full-spectrum prototype land imager with much reduced size and mass by verifying calibration performance across the full RMA spectral range and full imager field of view by comparison with well-understood NIST traceable full aperture laboratory sources. The second way involves in-flight absolute solar radiometric calibration of L8 OLI onboard lamp assemblies based on Raytheon's patented Specular Array Calibration (SPARC) method. SPARC uses spherical convex mirrors to create a collection of "solar stars" with identical spectra and well-defined radiometric properties directly traceable to the exoatmospheric solar spectral constant. SPARC site observations provide in-flight absolute calibration and sensor image quality validation achieved at a high level of repeatability and accuracy. Labsphere is developing a global network of fully automated commercial SPARC sites called FLARE, for improving in-flight calibration of space-based imagers. The proposed work involves imaging the FLARE beta site on Mauna Loa using L8 OLI. FLARE observations occur nearly simultaneously with active onboard calibration lamp measurements to enable the first direct in-flight absolute solar radiometric calibration of an onboard lamp assembly.The proposed research, if successful, supports SLI objectives by demonstrating that absolute radiometric calibration of an onboard lamp source or other onboard source such as the IRIS VSWIR calibration subassembly can provide absolute calibration meeting or exceeding requirements independent of an onboard solar diffuser over the full mission lifetime. In addition, FLARE site imaging of the point sources created by the mirrors provides point spread function and other image quality data.

Accelerate mission development, reduce risks and costs for future Sustainable Land Imaging missions

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