LYRA is the solar UV radiometer that will embark in 2006 onboard Proba2, a technologically oriented ESA micro-mission. LYRA is designed and manufactured by a Belgian-Swiss-German consortium (ROB, PMOD/WRC, IMOMEC, CSL, NIPS and BISA) with additional international collaborations. It will monitor the solar irradiance in four UV passbands. They have been chosen for their relevance to Solar Physics, Aeronomy and Space Weather: (1) the 115-125 nm Lyman-alpha channel, (2) the 200-220 nm Herzberg continuum range, (3) the Aluminium filter channel (17-70 nm) including He II at 30.4 nm and (4) the Zirconium filter channel (1-20 nm). The radiometric calibration will be traceable to synchrotron source standards (PTB and NIST). The stability will be monitored by onboard calibration sources (LEDs), which allow to distinguish between potential degradations of the detectors and filters. Additionally, a redundancy strategy maximizes the accuracy and the stability of the measurements. LYRA will benefit from wide bandgap detectors based on diamond: it will be the first space assessment of a pioneering UV detectors program. Diamond sensors make the instruments radiation-hard and solar-blind: their high bandgap energy makes them insensitive to visible light and, therefore, make dispensable visible light blocking filters, which seriously attenuate the desired ultraviolet signal. Their elimination augments the effective area and hence the signal-to-noise, therefore increasing the precision and the cadence. The SWAP EUV imaging telescope will operate next to LYRA on Proba2. Together, they will establish a high performance solar monitor for operational space weather nowcasting and research. LYRA demonstrates technologies important for future missions such as the ESA Solar Orbiter. (c) 2005 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.