Spectral response of the Viking lander camera: Preliminary evaluation
One of the objectives of the Viking lander imaging investigation is to obtain color and near-infrared multispectral panoramas of the Martian surface using six spectral channels in the 0.4 to 1.1 microns wavelength range. This data can be compared with data obtained by imaging a reference test chart to construct approximate spectral reflectance curves that can then be matched to laboratory standards to aid in identifying surface materials. Some channels exhibit appreciable out-of-band spectral responses, making data reduction and interpretation difficult. A preliminary evaluation of predicted multispectral data for eight geological materials reveals that fairly good reflectance estimates can be made for those materials which have monotonically increasing or decreasing reflectances. Reflectance estimates for materials with more complex reflectances often do not reveal important spectral features and sometimes provide misleading results.