Venus Express
Mission type | Venus orbiter |
---|---|
Operator | European Space Agency |
COSPAR ID | 2005-045A |
SATCAT no. | 28901 |
Website | www |
Mission duration | Planned: 2 years Final: 9 years, 2 months, 9 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Manufacturer | EADS Astrium |
Launch mass | 1,270 kg (2,800 lb)[1] |
Dry mass | 700 kg (1,543 lb)[1] |
Payload mass | 93 kg (205 lb)[1] |
Dimensions | 1.5 × 1.8 × 1.4 m (4.9 × 5.9 × 4.6 ft)[1] |
Power | 1,100 watts[1] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 9 November 2005, 03:33:34 UTC[2] |
Rocket | Soyuz-FG/Fregat |
Launch site | Baikonur 31/6 |
Contractor | Starsem |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Deorbited |
Last contact | 18 January 2015, 15:01:55 UTC[3] |
Decay date | January / February 2015 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Cytherocentric |
Pericytherion altitude | 460 km (290 mi)[4] |
Apocytherion altitude | 63,000 km (39,000 mi)[4] |
Inclination | 90 degrees[5] |
Period | 24 hours[5] |
Venus orbiter | |
Orbital insertion | 11 April 2006 |
ESA Solar System insignia for the Venus Express mission |
Venus Express (VEX) was the first
History
The mission was proposed in 2001 to reuse the design of the
The
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 around Venus.[8]
Venus Express entered its target orbit at apoapsis on 7 May 2006 at 13:31 UTC, when the spacecraft was 151,000,000 kilometres (94,000,000 mi) from Earth. At this point the spacecraft was running on an
Venus Express studied the
On 28 November 2014, mission control lost contact with Venus Express. Intermittent contact was reestablished on 3 December 2014, though there was no control over the spacecraft, likely due to exhaustion of propellant.
Instruments
ASPERA-4: An acronym for "Analyzer of Space Plasmas and Energetic Atoms," ASPERA-4 investigated the interaction between the solar wind and the Venusian atmosphere, determine the impact of plasma processes on the atmosphere, determine global distribution of plasma and neutral gas, study energetic neutral atoms, ions and electrons, and analyze other aspects of the near Venus environment. ASPERA-4 is a re-use of the ASPERA-3 design used on Mars Express, but adapted for the harsher near-Venus environment.
MAG: The magnetometer was designed to measure the strength of Venus's magnetic field and the direction of it as affected by the solar wind and Venus itself. It mapped the magnetosheath, magnetotail, ionosphere, and magnetic barrier in high resolution in three-dimensions, aid ASPERA-4 in the study of the interaction of the solar wind with the atmosphere of Venus, identify the boundaries between plasma regions, and carry planetary observations as well (such as the search for and characterization of Venus lightning). MAG was derived from the Rosetta lander's ROMAP instrument.
One measuring device was placed on the body of the craft. The identical second of the pair was placed the necessary distance away from the body by unfolding a 1 m long boom (carbon composite tube). Two redundant pyrotechnical cutters cut one loop of thin rope to free the power of metal springs. The driven knee lever rotated the boom perpendicularly outwards and latched it in place. Only the use of a pair of sensors together with the rotation of the probe allowed the spacecraft to resolve the small natural magnetic field beneath the disturbing fields of the probe itself. The measurements to identify the fields produced by the craft took place on the route from Earth to Venus.[14][15] The lack of magnetic cleanness was due to the reuse of the Mars Express spacecraft bus, which did not carry a magnetometer.[15] By combining the data from two-point simultaneous measurements and using software to identify and remove interference generated by Venus Express itself, it was possible to obtain results of a quality comparable to those produced by a magnetically clean craft.[15]
VMC: The Venus Monitoring Camera is a wide-angle, multi-channel
VMC Channel | Central Wavelength | Spectral Range |
---|---|---|
VIS | 513 nm | 503 – 523 nm |
NIR1 | 935 nm | 900 – 970 nm |
NIR2 | 1.01 µm | 990 – 1030 nm |
UV | 365 nm | 345 – 385 nm |
PFS: The "Planetary Fourier Spectrometer" (PFS) should have operated in the
SPICAV: The "SPectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus" (SPICAV) is an imaging spectrometer that was used for analyzing radiation in the infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths. It was derived from the SPICAM instrument flown on Mars Express. However, SPICAV had an additional channel known as SOIR (Solar Occultation at Infrared) that was used to observe the Sun through Venus's atmosphere in the infrared.
VIRTIS: The "Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer" (VIRTIS) was an imaging spectrometer that observed in the near-ultraviolet, visible, and infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. It analyzed all layers of the atmosphere, surface temperature and surface/atmosphere interaction phenomena.
VeRa: Venus Radio Science was a radio sounding experiment that transmitted radio waves from the spacecraft and passed them through the atmosphere or reflected them off the surface. These radio waves were received by a ground station on Earth for analysis of the ionosphere, atmosphere and surface of Venus. It was derived from the Radio Science Investigation instrument flown on Rosetta.
Science
Climate of Venus
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Starting out in the early planetary system with similar sizes and chemical compositions, the histories of Venus and Earth have diverged in spectacular fashion. It is hoped that the Venus Express mission data that was obtained can contribute not only to an in-depth understanding of how the Venusian atmosphere is structured, but also to an understanding of the changes that led to the current greenhouse atmospheric conditions. Such an understanding may contribute to the study of climate change on Earth.[22][needs update]
Search for life on Earth
Venus Express was also used to observe signs of life on Earth from Venus orbit. In images acquired by the probe, Earth was less than one pixel in size, which mimics observations of Earth-sized planets in other planetary systems. These observations were then used to develop methods for habitability studies of exoplanets.[23]
Timeline of the mission
- 3 August 2005: Venus Express completed its final phase of testing at Astrium Intespace facility in Toulouse, France.
- 7 August 2005: Venus Express arrived at the airport of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
- 16 August 2005: First flight verification test completed.
- 22 August 2005: Integrated System Test-3.
- 30 August 2005: Last major system test successfully started.
- 5 September 2005: Electrical testing successful.
- 21 September 2005: FRR (Fuelling Readiness Review) Ongoing.
- 12 October 2005: Mating to the Fregat upper stage completed.
- 21 October 2005: Contamination detected inside the fairing – launch on hold.
- 5 November 2005: Arrival at launch pad.
- 9 November 2005: Launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 03:33:34 UTC.
- 11 November 2005: First trajectory correction maneuver successfully performed.
- 17 February 2006: The main engine is fired successfully in a dress rehearsal for the arrival maneuver.[24]
- 24 February 2006: Second trajectory correction maneuver successfully performed.
- 29 March 2006: Third trajectory correction maneuver successfully performed – on target for 11 April orbit insertion.
- 7 April 2006: Command stack for orbit insertion maneuver is loaded on the spacecraft.
- 11 April 2006: The Venus Orbit Insertion (VOI) is completed successfully, according to the following timeline:[25]
Event Spacecraft event time(UTC)Ground receive time (UTC) Liquid Settling Phase start 07:07:56 07:14:41 VOI main engine start 07:10:29 07:17:14 periapsis passage 07:36:35 eclipse start 07:37:46 occultation start 07:38:30 07:45:15 occultation end 07:48:29 07:55:14 eclipse end 07:55:11 VOI burn end 08:00:42 08:07:28
- Period of this initial orbit is nine days.[8]
- 13 April 2006: First images of Venus from Venus Express released.
- 20 April 2006: Apoapsis Lowering Manoeuvre #1 performed. Orbital period is now 40 hours.
- 23 April 2006: Apoapsis Lowering Manoeuvre #2 performed. Orbital period is now approx 25 hours 43 minutes.
- 26 April 2006: Apoapsis Lowering Manoeuvre #3 is slight fix to previous ALM.
- 7 May 2006: Venus Express entered its target orbit at apoapsis at 13:31 UTC
- 14 December 2006: First temperature map of the southern hemisphere.[26]
- 27 February 2007: ESA agrees to fund mission extension until May 2009.[citation needed]
- 19 September 2007: End of the nominal mission (500 Earth days) – Start of mission extension.
- 27 November 2007: A series of papers was published in Nature giving the initial findings. It finds evidence for past oceans. It confirms the presence of lightning on Venus and that it is more common on Venus than it is on Earth. It also reports the discovery that a huge double atmospheric vortex exists at the south pole of the planet.[27][28]
- 20 May 2008: The detection by the VIRTIS instrument of hydroxyl (OH) in the atmosphere of Venus is reported in the May 2008 issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics.[29]
- 4 February 2009: ESA agrees to fund mission extension until 31 December 2009.[citation needed]
- 7 October 2009: ESA agrees to fund the mission through 31 December 2012.[citation needed]
- 23 November 2010: ESA agrees to fund the mission through 31 December 2014.[citation needed]
- 25 August 2011: It is reported that a layer of ozone exists in the upper atmosphere of Venus.[30][31]
- 1 October 2012: It is reported that a cold layer where dry ice may precipate exists in the atmosphere of Venus.[32]
- 18 June—11 July 2014: Performs successful aerobraking experiment.[33] Multiple passes at 131 to 135 km altitude.[34]
- 28 November 2014: Mission control loses contact with Venus Express.[12]
- 3 December 2014: Intermittent contact established, spacecraft determined to likely be out of propellant.[12]
- 16 December 2014: ESA declares the Venus Express mission over.[6]
- 18 January 2015: Last detection of the spacecraft's X-band carrier signal.[3]
See also
- Uncrewed space mission
- List of planetary probes
- List of missions to Venus
- List of uncrewed spacecraft by program
- Space exploration
- Space telescope
- Space probe
- Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
- Timeline of planetary exploration
References
- ^ a b c d e "Venus Express Factsheet". European Space Agency. 1 June 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
- ^ Siddiqi, Asif (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF) (second ed.). NASA History Program Office.
- ^ a b c Scuka, Daniel (23 January 2015). "Venus Express: The Last Shout". European Space Agency. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
- ^ a b "Venturing into the upper atmosphere of Venus". European Space Agency. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ^ a b "Operational Orbit". European Space Agency. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ^ a b c Bauer, Markus; Svedhem, Håkan; Williams, Adam; Martin, Patrick (16 December 2014). "Venus Express goes gently into the night". European Space Agency. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ^ "Venus Express preliminary investigations bring encouraging news". ESA. 25 October 2005. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
- ^ National Space Science Data Center. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ^ "Mission extensions approved for science missions". ESA. 16 October 2009.
- ^ "Europe maintains its presence on the final frontier". ESA. 22 November 2010.
- ^ "ESA science missions continue in overtime". ESA. 20 June 2013.
- ^ a b c "Venus Express anomaly". SpaceDaily. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ^ Drake, Nadia (17 December 2014). "Out of Fuel, Venus Express Is Falling Gently to Its Death in Planet's Skies". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
- ^ "IWF : VEX-MAG". Iwf.oewa.ac.at. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ^ .
- ^ "The Venus Express mission camera". Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008.
- ^ a b c Markiewicz, W. J.; Titov, D.; Fiethe, B.; Behnke, T.; Szemerey, I.; et al. "Venus Monitoring Camera for Venus Express" (PDF). Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015.
- ^ "Venus Monitoring Camera". Technical University at Brunswick.
- ^ "The light and dark of Venus". ESA. 21 February 2008.
- ^ Koeck, Ch.; Kemble, S.; Gautret, L.; Renard, P.; Faye, F. (October 2001). "Venus Express: Mission Definition Report" (PDF). European Space Agency. p. 17. ESA-SCI(2001)6.
- ^ Lakdawalla, Emily (23 July 2007). "Venus Express PFS fails to respond to a swift kick". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
- ^ "Atmospheric Dynamics of Venus and Earth" (PDF). Lpi.usra.edu. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ^ "Venus Express searching for life – on Earth". European Space Agency. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ^ "Successful Venus Express main engine test". European Space Agency. 17 February 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
- ^ "Venus orbit insertion". European Space Agency. 24 May 2007. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
- ^ "The new temperature map of Venus' southern hemisphere". European Space Agency. 14 July 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
- S2CID 129514118.
- ^ "Venus offers Earth climate clues". BBC News. 28 November 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
- ^ "Venus Express Provides First Detection of Hydroxyl in Atmosphere of Venus". SpaceDaily. 20 May 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ^ Carpenter, Jennifer (7 October 2011). "Venus springs ozone layer surprise". BBC News.
- hdl:2268/100136.
- ^ "A curious cold layer in the atmosphere of Venus". European Space Agency. 1 October 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
- ^ Scuka, Daniel (16 May 2014). "Surfing an alien atmosphere". European Space Agency. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- ^ "Venus Express rises again". European Space Agency. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
- Taylor, Fredric W. (November 2006). "The Planet Venus and the Venus Express Mission". Planetary and Space Science. 54 (13–14): 1247–1248. .
- "Venus Express launch campaign starts". European Space Agency. 3 August 2005.
- "Venus Express Launch Campaign Journal". European Space Agency. Retrieved 16 August 2005.
- "Interactive 3D model of the Venus Express spacecraft". European Space Agency. Retrieved 5 September 2005.
- "Venus Express: Instruments". European Space Agency. Retrieved 14 September 2005.
Further reading
- Dambeck, Thorsten (2009). "The Blazing Hell Behind the Veil" (PDF). MaxPlanckResearch (4): 26–33. B56133. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
External links
- Venus Express mission page by the European Space Agency
- Venus Express mission page by ESA Spacecraft Operations
- Venus Express profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration