SPICAV

Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus - a UV & IR atmospheric spectrometer for solar and stellar occultation and nadir observations. This instrument is on board Venus Express.

SPICAV will contribute to the analysis of Venus's atmosphere, looking for the small quantities of water that are expected to be found there. It will also look for sulphur compounds and molecular oxygen. It will measure the density and temperature of the atmosphere between 80 and 180 kilometres altitude.