The Venus Emissivity Mapper (VEM): obtaining global mineralogy of Venus from orbit

Abstract

The Venus Emissivity Mapper is the first flight instrument designed with a focus on mapping the surface of Venus using atmospheric windows around 1 μm. After several years of development VEM has a mature design with an existing laboratory prototype verifying an achievable instrument SNR of well above 1000 as well as a predicted error in the retrieval of relative emissivity of better than 1%. With that it will provide a global map of surface composition as well as redox state of the surface by observing the surface with six narrow band filters, ranging from 0.86 to 1.18 μm. Continuous observation of Venus’ thermal emission will place tight constraints on current day volcanic activity. Eight additional channels provide measurements of atmospheric water vapor abundance as well as cloud microphysics and dynamics and permit accurate correction of atmospheric interference on the surface data. A mission combining VEM with a high-resolution radar mapper such as the ESA EnVision or NASA VERITAS mission proposals will provide key insights in the divergent evolution of Venus.