Restoration of Motion-Blurred, High-Resolution Mars Express SRC Images of Phobos

We present an automated and fully reproducible pipeline for restoring motion-smeared Mars Express SRC images of Phobos. A one-dimensional motion point spread function (PSF) is derived directly from SPICE geometry and microsecond-precision exposure timing, and Wiener deconvolution (SNR = 16 dB) is applied to recover image sharpness. Tested on 14 images from 4 orbits spanning slant distances of 52–292 km, exposures of 14–20 milliseconds, sampling of 0.47–2.7 m/pixel, and PSF lengths of 11–119 pixels, the method achieves up to 31.7 dB PSNR, 0.78 SSIM, and positive sharpness gains across all cases. The restored images reveal sub-meter surface features previously obscured by motion blur, with residual energy reduced relative to the acquisition model. The workflow relies solely on open data and open-source tools (ISIS, ALE/SpiceyPy, OpenCV), requires no star-field calibration, and generalizes to other motion-degraded planetary datasets, providing a fully transparent and reproducible solution for high-resolution planetary imaging.

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Publication Details

Journal
Remote Sensing
Published
2025-09-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17183256
Primary Topic
Planetary Science and Exploration
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Restoration of Motion-Blurred, High-Resolution Mars Express SRC Images of Phobos

Hiroshi Kikuchi, Ryodo Hemmi
Remote Sensing
Planetary Science and Exploration
article

Restoration of Motion-Blurred, High-Resolution Mars Express SRC Images of Phobos

Hiroshi Kikuchi, Ryodo Hemmi
article en

Abstract

We present an automated and fully reproducible pipeline for restoring motion-smeared Mars Express SRC images of Phobos. A one-dimensional motion point spread function (PSF) is derived directly from SPICE geometry and microsecond-precision exposure timing, and Wiener deconvolution (SNR = 16 dB) is applied to recover image sharpness. Tested on 14 images from 4 orbits spanning slant distances of 52–292 km, exposures of 14–20 milliseconds, sampling of 0.47–2.7 m/pixel, and PSF lengths of 11–119 pixels, the method achieves up to 31.7 dB PSNR, 0.78 SSIM, and positive sharpness gains across all cases. The restored images reveal sub-meter surface features previously obscured by motion blur, with residual energy reduced relative to the acquisition model. The workflow relies solely on open data and open-source tools (ISIS, ALE/SpiceyPy, OpenCV), requires no star-field calibration, and generalizes to other motion-degraded planetary datasets, providing a fully transparent and reproducible solution for high-resolution planetary imaging.

Remote SensingVol. 17(18)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JP), Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (JP), Gakushuin University (JP)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Openalex Percentile: Top 82%
Planetary Science and Exploration
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