Terrestrial calibration method of focal plane position of space CCD camera

In order to calibrate the focal plane position of a space charge-coupled device (CCD) camera in terrestrial measurement stage, we proposed a novel calibration method based on the principle of autocollimation interferometry and modulation transfer function(MTF) measurement. We introduced the principle and the implementation process of the proposed method, and taking the calibration of focal plane position of a space CCD camera with a aperture of 600 mm and a focal length of 6 m by a collimator with a diameter of 1 m and a focal length of 20 m as an example, analyzed and calculated the calibration precision of the novel calibration method and the existed calibration method. The results show that the precision of the novel calibration method is better than 0.006 mm, which is 5 times~10 times of the existed calibration method, and this precision of the novel calibration method could meet the requirement on the calibration precision of the focal plane position of all the space CCD cameras at this stage.