PVO VENUS: Derived Electron Density and Temperature from Ionospheric Probes, 1979-1980

Pioneer Venus Orbiter measurements of electron density (Ne), electron temperature (Te), and spacecraft potential (Vs) derived from fitting volt-ampere curves of its radial probe. Data includes essentially every orbit where the spacecraft transited the Venusian ionosphere during 1979 and 1980. The dataset was created by NASA.

Use Cases

• Modeling Venusian ionospheric structure based on derived electron density (Ne) and temperature (Te).
• Analyzing spacecraft charging effects based on spacecraft potential (Vs) measurements.
• Studying temporal changes in the Venusian atmosphere using data from consecutive orbits in 1979-1980.

Strengths

• Data covers two full years (1979 and 1980) of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter mission.
• Measurements are derived from a specific instrument (radial probe) during ionospheric transits.
• Source organization is the authoritative NASA.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Derived by fitting volt-ampere curves from the Pioneer Venus Orbiter's radial probe.

Time Range

1979 and 1980

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 04:47:26.724046; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Venus (orbital measurements)