Venus Express is the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency. It is currently in orbit around Venus and collecting scientific data.

History

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The mission was proposed in 2001 to reuse the design of the Mars Express mission. However, some mission characteristics led to design changes: primarily in the areas of thermal control, communications and electrical power. For example, since Mars is approximately twice as far from the Sun as Venus is, the radiant heating of the spacecraft will be four times greater for Venus Express than Mars Express. Also, the ionizing radiation environment will be harsher. On the other hand, the more intense illumination of the solar panels will result in more generated photovoltaic power. The Venus Express mission also uses some spare instruments developed for the Rosetta spacecraft. The mission was proposed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Kevin Baines, who also worked on Cassini and New Horizons, and co-investigator on Venus Express' VIRTIS instrument.

The launch window for Venus Express was open from 26 October to 23 November 2005, with the launch initially set for 04:43 UT on 26 October. However, problems with the insulation from the Fregat upper stage led to a two week launch delay to inspect and clear out the small insulation debris that migrated on the spacecraft. It was eventually launched by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 9 November 2005 at 03:33:34 UT into a parking Earth orbit and 1 h 36 min after launch put into its transfer orbit to Venus. A first trajectory correction maneuver was successfully performed on 11 November 2005. It arrived at Venus on April 11, 2006, after approximately 150 days of journey, and fired its main engine between 07:10 and 08:00 Universal Time (UT) to reduce its velocity so that it could be captured by Venusian gravity into a nine day orbit. The burn was monitored from ESA's Control Centre, ESOC, in Darmstadt, Germany.

Seven further orbit control maneuvers, two with the main engine and five with the thrusters, were required for Venus Express to reach its final operational 24-hour orbit on 7 May 2006.

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Dale Carbon’s Top 5 XTC Albums: 1.English Settlement. 2.Black Sea. 3.Big Express. 4.Apple Venus (Vol 1) 5.Skylarking
BigBadCarbon (BigBadCarbon) Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:22:34 -0000
Dale Carbon’s Top 5 XTC Albums: 1.English Settlement. 2.Black Sea. 3.Big Express. 4.Apple Venus (Vol 1) 5.Skylarking

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