ESA Science & Technology - Rosetta - VIRTIS

VIRTIS (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) is an imaging spectrometer that combines three data channels in one instrument. Two of the data channels are committed to spectral mapping and are housed in the Mapper (-M) optical subsystem. The third channel is devoted solely to spectroscopy and is housed in the High resolution (-H) optical subsystem.

The VIRTIS-M imaging spectrometer has a parallel-piped shape, while the VIRTIS-H baffle has a cylindrical shape. The MLI layer divides the cold part of the experiment, where the two optical heads are located, from the "warm" part of the experiment, that is connected to the Rosetta spacecraft.