During its initial orbital phase in early 2019, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission detected small particles apparently emanating from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu in optical navigation images. Identification and characterization of the physical and dynamical properties of these objects became a mission priority in terms of both spacecraft safety and scientific investigation. Traditional techniques for particle identification and tracking typically rely on manual inspection and are often time-consuming. The large number of particles associated with the Bennu events and the mission criticality rendered manual inspection techniques infeasible for long-term operational support. In this work, we present techniques for autonomously detecting potential particles in monocular images and providing initial correspondences between observations in sequential images, as implemented for the OSIRIS-REx mission.
@article{arxiv.1911.04449,
title = {Autonomous Detection of Particles and Tracks in Optical Images},
author = {Andrew J. Liounis and Jeffrey L. Small and Jason C. Swenson and Joshua R. Lyzhoft and Benjamin W. Ashman and Kenneth M. Getzandanner and Michael C. Moreau and Coralie D. Adam and Jason M. Leonard and Derek S. Nelson and John Y. Pelgrift and Brent J. Bos and Steven R. Chesley and Carl W. Hergenrother and Dante S. Lauretta},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1911.04449},
year = {2025}
}