INFLIGHT PERFORMANCE-CHARACTERISTICS, CALIBRATION, AND UTILIZATION OFTHE GALILEO SOLID-STATE IMAGING CAMERA

The solid-state imaging subsystem (SSI) on NASA's Galileo Jupiter orbi ter spacecraft has already demonstrated its superior performance as a scientific imager by returning stunning pictures of several planetary bodies as well as detailed inflight calibration data during its cruise to Jupiter. The SSI inflight performance remains excellent; the instr ument calibration is stable and accurate. Improved determinations of t he SSI's absolute spectral radiometric response and scattered-light pr operties have been made. Evaluation of the camera's point spread funct ion suggests that the focus setting may be slightly nonoptimum, but th e spatial resolution in returned images is still very good. The shield ing of the SSI's CCD detector against energetic particle radiation app ears to be adequate for operation in Jupiter's intense radiation field . New camera modes, onboard editing and data compression capabilities, and an adaptive mission operations plan have been implemented for the Jupiter orbital mission phase in order to mitigate the effects of a s pacecraft anomaly that limits the allowable data return rate from Jupi ter. These new capabilities are expected to allow the accomplishment o f a historic scientific investigation of the Jupiter system using the SSI. (C) 1997 Society of Photo-Optical instrumentation Engineers.