VIRTIS/VEX observations of Venus: overview of selected scientific results
Drossart, Pierre; Piccioni, Giuseppe; Haus, Rainer; Kappel, David; Arnold, Gabriele E.
Germany, Italy, France
Abstract
After six years in a polar Venus orbit, the visible and infrared thermal imaging spectrometer (VIRTIS) on ESA's Venus Express mission provided an enormous amount of new data, including a three-dimensional view of the atmosphere and information on global surface properties of the planet. An overview is given of selected scientific results achieved by use of VIRTIS data comprising atmospheric thermal structure, molecular and particulate composition, chemistry and dynamics, and surface features.