Evaluation of an infrared horizon scanner bias determination algorithm for earth-oriented spacecraft

An algorithm for estimating infrared horizon scanner biases for earth-oriented spacecraft is presented. A mathematical description of the proposed algorithm is given, and the algorithm is evaluated for use by two earth-oriented spacecraft: the Applications Explorer Missions-A/Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (AEM-A/HCMM) and Seasat-A. The results of this study indicate that scanner alignment and calibration errors appear as nearly constant biases in the scanner pitch and roll data and that these constant biases can be estimated to within 0.05 degree for AEM-A and 0.03 degree for Seasat-A.