Thermal calibration of the MEDA-TIRS radiometer onboard NASA's Perseverance rover

Abstract

This article describes a comprehensive testing method for the thermal calibration of the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) onboard NASA's Perseverance rover. Ground-based IR detectors operating at the surface of Mars are subjected to inaccuracies caused by the inclusion of thermal gradients in their packages. To reduce such uncertainties, it is necessary to compensate for their effects. Here, details of the TIRS thermo-mechanical design and a simplified thermal mathematical model (TMM) that accounts for the presence of thermal gradients in the detector's package are provided. Then, a set of equations for the estimation and compensation of thermal gradients are proposed based on the results of the TMM. Thermal calibration tests to identify the mathematical estimators are analyzed, providing details of the test setups and highlighting their limitations and restrictions. Finally, experimental results of the calibration tests are presented, along with the uncertainty sources and potential systematic errors associated with the estimation of the gradients. The results presented here show a significant improvement in the accuracy of TIRS versus previous work, thus fulfilling of the radiometer scientific requirements set by the Mars 2020 science team.