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The scientific objective of the VIRGO experiment (Variability of solar IRradiance and Gravity Oscillations) is to determine the characteristics of pressure and internal gravity oscillations by observing irradiance and radiance variations, to measure the solar total and spectral irradiance and to quantify their variability over periods of days to the duration of the mission. With these data helioseismological methods can be used to probe the solar interior. Certain characteristics of convection and its interaction with magnetic fields, related to, for example, activity, will be studied from the results of the irradiance monitoring and from the comparison of amplitudes and phases of the oscillations as manifest in brightness from VIRGO, in velocity from GOLF, and in both velocity and continuum intensity from SOI/MDI. The VIRGO experiment contains two different active-cavity radiometers for monitoring the solar ‘constant’, two three-channel sunphotometers (SPM) for the measurement of the spectral irradiance at 402, 500 and 862 nm, and a low-resolution imager (LOI) with 12 pixels, for the measurement of the radiance distribution over the solar disk at 500 um. In this paper the scientific objectives of VIRGO are presented, the instruments and the data acquisition and control system are described in detail, and their measured performance is given.

A number of different solar constant observations all made from space during the ATLAS 2 mission have been gathered and compared to each other. The Sun did not have a single sunspot during several days. As eight of the radiometric channels were all within 0.1%, the mean of the observations has been used to determine a set of adjustment factors providing de facto the definition of the Space Absolute Radiometric Reference (SARR). The differential absolute radiometers of Solar Constant (SOLCON) experiment and the Solar Variability-1 (SOVA 1) experiment, as well as the SOVA 2 and Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR) radiometers that have been brought back to the Earth may, if used in the same conditions, reproduce and maintain the SARR for the future.

A brief description is given of the Solar Constant (SOLCAN) experiment on Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) 1, its scientific and technical objectives, as well as its measurement principle and its on board chronology of operations. A preliminary value of the solar constant during the third solar operation of the mission is also provided.

The experiment SOVA (SOlar VAriability) on board EURECA (EUropean REtrievable CArrier) contains two types of radiometers sunphotometers for measuring the total and spectral irradiance at five wavelengths between 335 nm and 862 nm. Besides the direct observation of variations of the solar irradiance, these measurements will also be used for the observation of solar oscillations. Preliminary results are presented from the observations of total and spectral irradiance during the first five months of the mission (August to December 1992).

The solar constant observations obtained by the SOLCON/ATLAS experiment during the three successive missions are presented based on the Space Absolute Radiometric Reference (SARR) defined during the ATLAS-2 mission. The objectives of SOLCON, namely to obtain accurate measurements of the solar constant and to compare them with the observations obtained from free flyers in the hope of establishing a baseline and strategy for monitoring the solar constant at climate scale, have been achieved successfully with the three ATLAS missions. The long range objective of insuring the solar constant data continuity will, however, require that an alternative approach than that of the ATLAS program be found to fly and retrieve SOLCON.

The in-flight performance of the total and spectral irradiance instruments within VIRGO (Variability of solar IRradiance and Gravity Oscillations) on the ESA/NASA Mission SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric observatory) is in most aspects better than expected. The behaviour during the first year of operation of the two types of radiometers and the sunphotometers together with a description of their data evaluation procedures is presented.