Abstract
Optical imaging systems mounted on a Sun-synchronous satellite are probably disturbed by stray light when working in the space environment. Existing research has shown that the Visible Infrared Radiometer (VIRR) onboard the FY-3C satellite is affected by external solar stray light radiation when imaging the ground. In this paper, based on analyzing the solar stray light generation mechanism, we propose a simulation and analysis method combined with the given satellite orbit attitude model to investigate the influence of external solar stray light on VIRR’s imaging quality. We use the FY-3C orbit parameters to obtain the variation pattern of the angles between the solar vector and the payload. Based on the VIRR mechanical structure and optical scattering model, light tracing is performed to investigate the spatial distribution of irradiation on the primary mirror. The results of the occurrence time and intensity of stray light obtained by the simulation are consistent with the actual data when imaging the ground, which verifies that the proposed method is a correct and effective way to investigate the regularity of the external stray light of on-orbit payload.
Highlights
In this paper, based on the analysis of the solar stray light generation mechanism and theoretical model, we propose a simulation and analysis method combined with satellite orbit attitude model to quantitatively investigate the influence of solar stray light on the imaging quality of the Visible Infrared Radiometer (VIRR)
We propose a simulation method utilizing satellite orbit attitude model to investigate the influence of solar stray light on the imaging quality of the VIRR
Since the relative position of the instrument with respect to the Sun varies with the season and orbital position, the stray light varies with the scene and time
Summary
Stray light is one of the main factors that affect the performance of the satellite optical payload. Stray light implies unwanted rays reaching the detecting surfaces that comes from an unintended source, or from an intended source which follows an unintended path [1]. The stray light that affects the optical payload may come from the Sun, the Moon, the Earth’s atmosphere and the instrument’s own radiation. When stray light reaches the imaging sensor, it may confuse the energy distribution and decrease the signal-to-noise ratio, which seriously affects the imaging quality and detection ability of the whole system [2,3]. The analysis of stray light for the satellite optical payload is required both during the instrument design and orbit operation stages
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