ESA Venus Express Status: Commissioning Phase Completed
06 Jun 2006 16:19
Report for Period 28 May to 03 June 2006
On 3 June at 13:42 UT, after 207 days of flight, 43 orbits around Venus and many test activities, Venus Express has formally completed its commissioning phase and has entered the routine science phase. This will be formalised only with the Mission Commissioning Results Review to be held end of June. The nominal mission is scheduled to last till the end of October 2007.
All activities of the third and last week of the Venus Orbit Commissioning Phase have been executed as planned without any major problem.
The performance of the space and the ground segment has been nominal with minor problems not affecting the mission operations.
The planning cycle proceeds in its activities and according to the plan. Problems identified in the mission planning are being resolved.
The AOCS has been reconfigured to use Star Tracker A in the control loop thus concluding the activities linked to the software update.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | VPER# | Main Activity |
| 201 | 28/05/06 | 148 | 37 | Routine science operations |
| 202 | 29/05/06 | 149 | 38 | Routine science operations |
| 203 | 30/05/06 | 150 | 39 | Routine science operations, Star tracker swap |
| 204 | 31/05/06 | 151 | 40 | Routine science operations |
| 205 | 01/06/06 | 152 | 41 | Routine science operations |
| 206 | 02/06/06 | 153 | 42 | Routine science operations |
| 207 | 03/06/06 | 154 | 43 | Routine science operations |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 154, 14:00) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 180 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 601 seconds.
Payload Activities
ASPERA
The instrument is regularly operated.
MAG
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
PFS
The instrument is currently OFF and is not included in the routine planning. Any further attempt to move the scanner is now suspended until further notice.
SPICAV
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
VeRA
The USO has been un-muted in the night between DoY 147 and 148 to perform the first gravity observation. All configuration activities went according to the plan.
VIRTIS
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
VMC
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan. Sun avoidance is routinely checked manually.
Future Milestones
The phasing-in of the routine planning process is formally completed even though it is being affected by some teething problems. So far none of the problems recorded has actually affected the mission.
Medium Term Planning 2 will start on 4 June and be completed by 1 July after four weeks of activities.
The next milestone for the mission is the preparation of the Mission Commissioning Results Review to be held end of June.
