THE HAYABUSA SPACECRAFT ARRIVED AT NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID (25143) ITOKAWA IN SEPTEMBER 2005 AND RETURNED SAMPLES TO EARTH IN JUNE 2010. DURING ITS 3-MONTH-LONG ASTEROID PROXIMITY OPERATIONS ASTEROID MULTIBAND IMAGING CAMERA (AMICA) AND NEAR INFRARED SPECTROMETER (NIRS) MAPPED THE SURFACE OF THE ASTEROID. AMICA IMAGED THE SURFACE IN SEVEN COLOR FILTERS (0.38-1.0 MICRONS) AND A BROADBAND CLEAR FILTER CENTERED AROUND 0.65 MICRONS. NIRS INSTRUMENT OBTAINED OVER 80 000 RESOLVED SPECTRA OF ITOKAWA IN 64 CHANNELS COVERING A WAVELENGTH RANGE BETWEEN 0.76-2.25 MICRONS. THE FOCUS OF OUR 4-YEAR PROPOSAL IS TO A) CALIBRATE AND RESTORE THE HAYABUSA AMICA MULTICOLOR DATA TO FULL SPATIAL SPECTRAL AND PHOTOMETRIC ACCURACY AND CREATE A GLOBAL 7 COLOR MOSAICS AT THE BEST RESOLUTION POSSIBLE AND B) PRODUCE PHOTOMETRICALLY CORRECTED NIRS SPECTRAL DATA AND EXTRACT BAND PARAMETER MAPS OF ITOKAWA. USING THESE GLOBAL COLOR/SPECTRAL MOSAICS WE INTEND TO CREATE MINERAL (PYROXENE CHEMISTRY OLIVINE/PYROXENE RATIO) MAPS OF THE ENTIRE VISIBLE SURFACE ITOKAWA. THIS HIGH LEVEL DATASET WILL BE ARCHIVED ON THE PDS AND SERVE THE SCIENCE NEEDS OF THE ENTIRE PLANETARY SCIENCE COMMUNITY.
$449,943FY2014National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Planetary Science Institute, Tucson AZ