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Space Topics: Venus ExpressScience InstrumentsVenus Express carries seven science instruments, five of which are reused from Mars Express and Rosetta, and two of which were developed specifically for Venus Express: PFS (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer) is an infrared spectrometer that will be able to perform high-resolution measurements of the temperature structure of the atmosphere and determine the abundance of minor gas species. It could even potentially detect volcanic activity -- if it exists -- by detecting spot concentrations of water vapor, a gas that is very rare on Venus. PFS comes from Mars Express and is led by Principal Investigator Vittorio Formisano of Italy. SPICAV/SOIR (Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus / Solar Occultation at Infrared) is an imaging spectrometer that will capture images of Venus in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. It can be pointed at the Sun as it dips below Venus' limb and shines through the atmosphere; in this mode it can split the incoming light into 40,000 different wavelengths and detect not only the chemical composition of the atmosphere but even the amounts of elemental isotopes present. SPICAV is based on the SPICAM instrument from Mars Express, with the SOIR channel added to permit these solar occultation observations. It is led by Principal Investigators Jean-Loup Bertaux of France, Dennis Nevejans of Belgium, and Oleg Korablev of Russia. VIRTIS (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) will be used to make spectroscopic maps of Venus in visible and infrared wavelengths, as well as high resolution spectrographic measurements in infrared wavelengths. It is based upon a Rosetta instrument and is led by Principal Investigators Pierre Drossart of France and Giuseppe Piccioni of Italy. ASPERA-4 (Analyser of Space Plasma and Energetic Atoms) will measure directly the particles in the environment around Venus in order to study the interaction between Venus' atmosphere and the solar wind. ASPERA comes from Mars Express and is led by Principal Investigator Stas Barabash of Sweden. VeRa (Venus Radio Science) uses the powerful radio antenna designed mainly for communications to investigate Venus' ionosphere as well as the mass, density, temperature, and pressure structure of the upper atmosphere. The antenna is the same as the one on Mars Express, but in fact nearly every space mission employs its communications antenna in this fashion for "bonus" science. The investigation is led by Principal Investigator Bernd Häusler of Germany. VMC (Venus Monitoring Camera) is a wide-angle, multi-channel camera that will be able to take global images at wavelengths from ultraviolet through visible to near infrared in order to study the dynamics of clouds in Venus' atmosphere. Its images will also provide context for the other instruments' measurements. It was developed especially for Venus Express and is led by Principal Investigator Wojiciech Markiewicz of Germany. MAG (Magnetometer) will study the magnetic environment around Venus, which, unlike Earth, has almost no internal magnetic field. It was developed especially for Venus Express, though it reuses a sensor design from Rosetta. MAG is led by Tielong Zhang of Austria.
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