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Aims. The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument is a high-resolution imaging spectrometer operating at extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths. In this paper, we present the concept, design, and pre-launch performance of this facility instrument on the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission. Methods. The goal of this paper is to give prospective users a better understanding of the possible types of observations, the data acquisition, and the sources that contribute to the instrument's signal. Results. The paper discusses the science objectives, with a focus on the SPICE-specific aspects, before presenting the instrument's design, including optical, mechanical, thermal, and electronics aspects. This is followed by a characterisation and calibration of the instrument's performance. The paper concludes with descriptions of the operations concept and data processing. Conclusions. The performance measurements of the various instrument parameters meet the requirements derived from the mission's science objectives. The SPICE instrument is ready to perform measurements that will provide vital contributions to the scientific success of the Solar Orbiter mission.

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The Interactive Video in Schools (IVIS) programme was evaluated by a team from the Centre for Applied Research in Education. This article is based upon the final report which they prepared for the Department of Trade and Industry and the programme management. It provides a brief description of the programme and its eight projects, followed by an overview of the educational potential of interactive video as evidenced by the programme, a classification of the interactions made available by the IVIS packages, and some consideration of interactive video and educational improvement. The article closes with some of the lessons that emerged from IVIS on how to introduce, support, and evaluate comparable programmes.

The Amon-Ra instrument is the main optical payload of the EARTHSHINE satellite and a unique Earth reflectance monitor. It consists of two separate optical systems, one imaging photon fluxes over the visible waveband and the other bolometrically measuring global emissions while the satellite orbits about the L1-Lagrange point. Two optical systems were designed to share the same apertures to the Sun and Earth and view the same target along the same direction as the spacecraft rotates. This design approach is advantageous in minimising the optics alignment problem as well as the differential degradation of front-end optics and detectors between the two systems. Nevertheless, such an approach makes it difficult to control stray-light separately in each system and the signal of one source may be corrupted due to the other. In this paper, we discuss the stray-light performance of the Amon-Ra instrument and report the analysis results.