Upgrades to the MAVEN Echelle Data Reduction Pipeline: New Calibration
Standard and Improved Faint Emission Detection Algorithm at Lyman-α
Abstract
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission instrument
suite includes an ultraviolet echelle spectrograph with high-spectral
resolution designed to resolve D and H Lyman-α emissions. The
high-spectral resolution mode was previously characterized in the lab
and in the cruise phase to Mars and had been calibrated using
observations and models of interplanetary hydrogen Lyman-α emissions.
This work presents improved characterizations of the high-spectral
resolution mode using in-orbit observations that allow for more robust
detections of the faint D Lyman-α emission line. Additionally, the
instrument was re-calibrated using simultaneous and comparable
observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope high-spectral
resolution instrument. Comparisons to Lyman-α observations made with the
low-resolution UV channel on the spectrometer, that had been calibrated
with stars, showed consistency in the brightness values for measurements
obtained at similar observational conditions. The combined upgrades to
the faint-emission fitting and new calibration techniques of the MAVEN
echelle channel have resulted in an improved data-reduction pipeline
with favorable implications for the science utility of D and H Lyman-α
emissions.