Instrument Information
IDENTIFIER urn:nasa:pds:context:instrument:pvo.ouvs::2.2
NAME Pioneer Venus Orbiter Ultraviolet Spectrometer
TYPE Spectrometer
DESCRIPTION The Orbiter Ultraviolet Spectrometer (OUVS), or Airglow Ultraviolet Spectrometer, on Pioneer Venus was designed to map and make spectroscopic analyses of ultraviolet light scattered and emitted by the clouds and gases in the Venus atmosphere, in order to detect and measure airglow, scattered sunlight, and hydrogen Lyman-alpha emissions in the thermosphere, mesosphere, and exosphere of Venus. These measurements are used to establish and map the composition, temperature, and photochemistry of the thermosphere and ionosphere, to determine the pressure at and above the visible cloud tops, and to establish the distribution and escape rate of atomic hydrogen. The OUVS used a 250 mm Cassegrain telescope on a 125 mm focal length Ebert-Fastie monochromator with a programmable grating drive. The instrument operated in the 1100-3400 A region. The telescope had a lightshade assembly and a 5 cm aperture. It had a 1.83 x 0.16 degree field of view, 60 degrees from the spin axis. and focused the incoming light onto the Ebert-Fastie monochromator had a 3600 line/mm diffraction grating, with 15 Angstrom spectral resolution and 4.4 angstrom grating steps. It had two exit slits, which passed the dispersed light to two photomultiplier tubes, to convert the light into electrical impulses. One tube was sensitive to UV wavelengths from 1100 to 1900 Angstroms, while the other one covered wavelengths from 1900 to 3600 angstroms. Counting could be done up to 2 Hz, it could store up to 256 words of data, and an integration period of 4, 8, 16, or 32 ms, determined by ground command. The instrument had three primary modes of operation: spectral, wavelength, and, Lyman-Alpha.
MODEL IDENTIFIER
NAIF INSTRUMENT IDENTIFIER
SERIAL NUMBER not applicable
REFERENCES Stewart, A.I, 'Design and Operation of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter Ultraviolet Spectrometer', IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, GE-18, 65-70, 1980.