Abstract

The Planetary Instruments Definition and Development Program (PIDDP)¹ is a continuing National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) program whose goals are (1) to investigate new technologies for potential use in the instruments of future missions and (2) to provide advance development of these instruments. The Infrared and Analytical Instruments Section of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), under the sponsorship of NASA’s PIDDP program, has developed a Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) for the Lunar Geoscience Observer mission. We describe the LGO/VIMS base line configuration. The LGO/VIMS base line relies heavily on the Mars Observer (MO) VIMS, which was developed under previous PIDDP funding, and the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) for Galileo, The MO/VIMS is now a facility instrument at JPL. This heritage provides considerable advantages in technical risk and cost. The basic method used in arriving at the instrument base line is ideally suited to advance developments.

© 1988 Optical Society of America