Abstract DGP2026-54

The MErcury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) onboard BepiColombo: data calibration, format and reduction.

Mario D'Amore (1), Olivier Groussin (2), Indhu Varatharajan (3), Jan Hendrik Pasckert (4), Stéphane Erard (5), Pierre Vernazza (2), Moritz Tenthoff (6), Thomas Heyer (4), Benjamin T. Greenhagen (7), Tyler M. Powell (7), Kay Wohlfarth (6), Lida Fanara (1), Océane Barraud (1), Nico Schmedemann (4), Solmaz Adeli (1) and Harald Hiesinger (4)

(1) Institute of Space Research, German Aerospace Center, Germany (DLR), (2) Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, France (LAM), (3) Stony Brook University, New York, United States, (4) Institut für Planetologie, University of Münster, Germany, (5) LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, France, (6) Image Analysis Group, TU Dortmund University, Germany, (7) Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University (APL)

The MErcury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS) on board the BepiColombo spacecraft will study the mineralogy and temperature of Mercury’s surface.
It combines a push-broom infrared grating spectrometer (TIS, 7–14 µm) and a radiometer (TIR, 7–40 µm).
MERTIS observed the Moon and Venus twice, and finally Mercury, in conditions different to those of its nominal mission.
Nevertheless, these operations provided scientifically useful data, which the team used to improve the pre-launch spectral and geometrical calibration.
The MERTIS data we have archived are in Planetary Data System v4 (PDS4) format, which actually describes two physical formats for each MERTIS channel: The Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) and ASCII formats, to maximise machine and human interaction.
We are also investigating “newer” data formats to make them easier to use (GeoParquet, Sparse HealPix and COG Geotiff).
In this work, we describe how the MERTIS data are calibrated, formatted and reduced, and how these processes are integrated into the MERTIS data pipeline produced by the MERTIS/DLR team and run in parallel with the ESA Science Ground Segment.