Method for characterization of Earth observation telescope within observation satellite, involves applying Fourier transform to image to determine modulation transfer function of on board optical instrument from Fourier transform and shifts

摘要

The method involves controlling an observation satellite according to a slowed down mode in which number of pitching revolutions is a fraction of number of pitching revolutions in a nominal mode. A star image is obtained according to a sampling grid oversampled with a factor with regard to a nominal sampling grid. A shift of stars is estimated in the nominal sampling grid. A Fourier transform is applied to the image to determine a modulation transfer function of an on-board optical instrument i.e. Earth observation telescope, from the Fourier transform and shifts estimated for each star. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) an observation satellite (2) a computer program product comprising instructions for performing a method for characterization of an on-board optical instrument.