MICROWAVE RADIOMETER
A microwave radiometer on board Mariner II was designed to scan Venus during encounter at two wavelengths: 13.5 and 19 millimeters. The radiometer was intended to help settle some of the controversies about the origin of the apparently high surface temperature emanating from Venus, and the value of the surface temperature.
The equipment included a 19-inch-diameter parabolic antenna mounted above the basic hexagonal structure on a swivel driven in a 120-degree scanning motion by a motor. The radiometer electronics circuits were housed behind the antenna dish. The antenna was equipped with a diplexer, which allowed it to receive both wavelengths at once without interference, and to compare the signals emanating from the two reference horns with those from the planet. The reference horns were pointed away from the main antenna beam so they would look into deep space as Mariner passed Venus. This feature allowed the antenna to “bring in” a reference temperature of approximately absolute zero during encounter.
The microwave radiometer was to be turned on 10 hours before the encounter began. An electric motor was then to start a scanning or “nodding” motion of 120 degrees at the rate of 1 degree per second. Upon radiometer contact with the planet, this scanning rate would be reduced to 1/10 degree per second as long as the planetary disk was scanned. A special command system in the data conditioning system would reverse or normalize the direction of scan as the radiometer reached the edge or limb of the planet.
The signals from the antenna and the reference horns were to be processed and the data handled in a receiver, located behind the antenna, which measured the difference between the signals from Venus and the reference signals from space. The information was then to be telemetered to the Earth.
The microwave radiometer was automatically calibrated twenty-three times during the mission by a sequence originating in the data conditioning system, so that the correct functioning of the instrument could be determined before the encounter with Venus.