PHOBOS MISSION

International project PHOBOS was devoted to the investigations of Mars and its satellites. Two interplanetary probes were launched in 1988, one of them had reached the Phobos and carried out some experiments before it was lost. The on-board video spectrometric system (VSK) was created by international cooperation of the scientific and industrial facilities from the USSR, Bulgaria and GDR. The system has provided 3 spectral bands TV observations, spectral analysis of the images, and the navigation of the probe to the satellite surface.

TV data were processed by the international team, including the USSR, Bulgaria, Germany, Finland, Great Britain and USA scientists. The basic steps of data acquisition and preprocessing were performed in IKI using the image processing computer system, based on PDP11/40 compatible host. The Image Processing SW for this system was developed by Planetary Data Image Processing Lab personal under RSX11M.

Some image processing results are shown below.

Phobos.
3 channels VSK image. The enhanced image after a histogram equalization technique. The distance is 270 km., the resolution is 50/260 m.

Phobos
3 channels VSK image. The enhanced image after a histogram equalization technique. The distance is 430 km., the resolution is 80/420 m.

Phobos and Mars.
Wide-angle channel scaled image after the separate contrast enhancement for Phobos. The distance is 195 km., the resolution is 190 m.

Phobos.
Narrow-angle channel image after the histogram equalization and the emphasis of the furrows structure. The distance is 197 km., the resolution is 36 m.

Phobos.
3 channels VSK image. The enhanced image after processing with a histogram equalization technique. The distance is 230 km., the resolution is 43/225 m.

Phobos on the background of Mars.
Wide-angle channel scaled image after processing with using a various technique of the separate contrast enhancement. The distance is 188 km., the resolution is 184 m.

The closest approach image of Phobos.
Narrow-angle channel image after processing with using a various technique contrast enhancement. The distance is 188 km., the resolution is 34 m. This image was the last one from Phobos-2 probe.

These images are for the presentation only, but not for scientific analysis!
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