Updated In-flight Calibration of the Hayabusa2/NIRS3 Spectrometer: New Global Near-infrared Photometric Properties of Asteroid (162173) Ryugu

Abstract

The Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) onboard Hayabusa2 observed asteroid (162173) Ryugu, searching especially for signatures of water-bearing minerals. However, during the mission, absolute reflectance measured by the Telescopic Optical Navigation Camera (ONC-T) and NIRS3 showed a systematic offset. Additionally, touchdown operations have modified the instrumental response, which has made post-second-touchdown data less reliable. Correction of these issues is crucial to interpret the subtle spectroscopic differences across the surface, better understand the origin and evolution of carbonaceous asteroids, and support the Hayabusa2♯ mission’s future observations of the asteroids (98943) Torifune and 1998 KY26. We used Ryugu observations at different mission phases for relative calibrations and lunar observations for the absolute calibration. Moon spectra acquired during the first Earth swing-by were compared to simulated ones from photometric models based on lunar orbiter and ground-based data. We then applied the updated calibration to the full Hayabusa2 proximity phase data set, enabling disk-resolved global and regional photometric analyses. We showed that the data obtained following the first and second touchdowns required downscaled corrections of 5.4% ± 1.8% and 10.3% ± 0.4% at 2 μm, respectively, while the absolute calibration revealed that NIRS3 reflectance was underestimated by about 8% compared with the original calibration. Our new photometric parameters are consistent with previous studies and indicate a weak east–west dichotomy in phase ratio and phase reddening, pointing to higher surface roughness and higher abundance of fine-grained regolith in Ryugu's eastern hemisphere.