[X] My Assistant

[ncc1701d]

Concerning the definition of a "footprint"
Say a spacecraft flying overhead of planet is pointing its camera rectangular shaped FOV down at the surface. If 1 or more of the 4 corner boundary rays stops intercepting with the surface, is the area under the FOV still considered a "footprint"? Perhaps it only matters if the borsight ray of the FOV intercepts with the planet to qualify as a "footprint" ?
I tend to think all of those 4 cornors rays would have to be intecepting the surface to qualify as a "footprint" but
I just wanted some clarification maybe from an expert.

Thank you.

[mcaplinger]

If 1 or more of the 4 corner boundary rays stops intercepting with the surface, is the area under the FOV still considered a "footprint"?

If an image contains the entire target planet, then none of the four corners intersect the planet, and if the planet were off-center, the boresight might not intersect the planet either, but the footprint would still be the entire visible part of the planet.