A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
In-flight calibration of ESA Hera’s HyperScout-H imager
Authors: Prodan, G. P.; Popescu, M.; de León, J.; Kovács, G.; Küppers, M.; Grieger, B.; Guerbuez, C.; Tatsumi, E.; Licandro, J.; Escalante López, A.; Nagy, V.; Farina, A.; Dumitru, B. A.; Poggiali, G.; Vincent, J. B.; Kohout, T.; Petrişor, I.; Palomba, E.; Esposito, M.; Vercruyssen, N.; Sugita, S.; Lazzarin, M.; Abell, P.; Michel, P.
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication year: 2026
Journal: Icarus
Article number: 117081
Volume: 454
ISSN: 0019-1035
eISSN: 1090-2643
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2026.117081
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Partially Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2026.117081
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/523220645
Self-archived copy's licence: CC BY
Self-archived copy's version: Publisher`s PDF
ESA’s Hera space mission is on its way to the mission target, the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos. HyperScoutH, one of the instruments onboard Hera, is a hyperspectral imager operating in the visible and near-infrared regions between 0.65 and 0.95 μm. HyperScout-H will enable a detailed assessment of the composition of both objects, Didymos and its satellite Dimorphos, the characterization of space weathering effects, and the possible presence of exogenous material on their surfaces. To monitor instrument functionality, calibration exposures are acquired regularly. This article describes the in-flight calibrations carried out for HyperScout-H during the commissioning and cruise phases. Bias and dark exposures, as well as stellar field observations, were acquired several times after launch. We update the calibration data and monitor instrument performance in the space environment. In addition, images of Earth and Moon were acquired from distances of 1.5 × 106 to 2.0 × 106 km, and Mars and its satellite were imaged during the flyby. In five images, the surface of Mars fills the entire field of view, enabling cross-validation of HyperScout-H results with those reported by other Mars missions. We characterize the detector under in-flight operational conditions. The calibration data indicate that the bias pattern is stable, the dark current remains negligible for short exposures, and the detector response is highly linear. We quantify the field-of-view alignment and geometric distortion, and evaluate the point spread function based on the stellar field observations. Stellar observations and Mars swing-by data provide updated radiometric calibration constants, suggesting that in-flight conditions have slightly modified the detector’s spectral response. In-flight calibrations are essential to ensure data quality and reliability
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Funding information in the publication:
GP, MP and JdL acknowledge financial support from ESA contract RFQ/3-18365/23/NL/GLC/my, Spain in response to Tender Action 3-18365 “Hera Investigation Team Instrument Operations and Data Analysis Preparation”. TK acknowledges the Einstitutional support RVO 67985831 of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences.