Status Report

ESA Venus Express Status Report No. 80 – Quadrature Operations

By SpaceRef Editor

June 30, 2007

Filed under ESA Venus Express Mission, Europe, Venus, Venus Express

ESA Venus Express Status Report No. 80 – Quadrature Operations — http://images.spaceref.com/news/venus.express.jpg

14 Jun 2007 14:15

Report for Period 20 May to 27 May 2007

The quadrature operations have progressed according to plan. Some of the passes were again skipped at Cebreros during the reporting period. The use of “delayed TC files” as part of the quadrature operations has worked very well.

The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:

MET (Day)	Date	DOY	VPER#	Main Activity
558	20/05/07	140	394	Routine Mission Operations
559	21/05/07	141	395	Pass skipped for cooling
560	22/05/07	142	396	Routine Mission Operations
561	23/05/07	143	397	Pass skipped for cooling
562	24/05/07	144	398	Routine Mission Operations
563	25/05/07	145	399	Routine Mission Operations
564	26/05/07	146	400	Routine Mission Operations

At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 145, 18:00z) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 122.5 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 408 seconds.

Payload Activities

ASPERA
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan.

MAG
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan.

PFS
This instrument was OFF and was not operated.

SPICAV
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan. The SPICAV On-Board Control Procedure (OBCP) for the shutter has been tested and validated on ground.

VeRA
Occultation observations were performed over New Norcia on 2007-142 and 2007-144.

VIRTIS
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan. The VIRTIS software upload has been received at ESOC. Its validation on ground is ongoing at the moment. It is planned to implement it on-board just before the end of the quadrature phase.