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Venus express: Highlights of the nominal mission |
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| Authors: | D V Titov H Svedhem F W Taylor S Barabash J -L Bertaux P Drossart V Formisano B Häusler O Korablev W J Markiewicz D Nevejans M Pätzold G Piccioni J -A Sauvaud T L Zhang O Witasse J -C Gerard A Fedorov A Sanchez-Lavega J Helbert R Hoofs |
| Institution: | 1. Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany 2. Space Research Institute (IKI), Moscow, Russia 3. ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands 4. Oxford University, Oxford, UK 5. IRF, Kiruna, Sweden 6. Service d’Aeronomie, CNRS, Paris, France 7. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France 8. IFSI/INAF, Rome, Italy 9. Universitute der Bundeswehr, München, Germany 10. Institute for Space Aeronomy, Brussels, Belgium 11. Rheinean Institute for Environmental research, Universitute zu Küln, Cologne, Germany 12. IASF/CNR, Rome, Italy 13. Centre d’Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Tolouse, France 14. Space Research Institute, Graz, Austria 15. LPAP, Universite de Liege, Brussels, Belgium 16. CESR, Toulouse, France 17. Universidad del Pais Vasco, Bilbao, Spain 18. Institute for Planetary Research, DLR, Berlin, Germany 19. ESA/ESAC, Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, Spain |
| Abstract: | Venus Express is the first European (ESA) mission to the planet Venus. Its main science goal is to carry out a global survey of the atmosphere, the plasma environment, and the surface of Venus from orbit. The payload consists of seven experiments. It includes a powerful suite of remote sensing imagers and spectrometers, instruments for in-situ investigation of the circumplanetary plasma and magnetic field, and a radio science experiment. The spacecraft, based on the Mars Express bus modified for the conditions at Venus, provides a versatile platform for nadir and limb observations as well as solar, stellar, and radio occultations. In April 2006 Venus Express was inserted in an elliptical polar orbit around Venus, with a pericentre height of ～250 km and apocentre distance of ～66000 km and an orbital period of 24 hours. The nominal mission lasted from June 4, 2006 till October 2, 2007, which corresponds to about two Venus sidereal days. Here we present an overview of the main results of the nominal mission, based on a set of papers recently published in Nature, Icarus, Planetary and Space Science, and Geophysical Research Letters. |
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