ESA Venus Express Status No. 37 – Science Operations – Report for Period 16 July to 22 July 2006
24 Jul 2006 16:42
Report for Period 16 July to 22 July 2006
During the reporting period the mission operations have been conducted according to the plan. The ground and the space segment performance have been nominally with the exception of a few Telemetry outages at the Ground Station due to thunder storms and lightning.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | VPER# | Main Activity |
| 250 | 16/07/06 | 197 | 86 | Routine science operations |
| 251 | 17/07/06 | 198 | 87 | Routine science operations Occultation1 Radio Science Operations |
| 252 | 18/07/06 | 199 | 88 | Routine science operations CEB Maintenance |
| 253 | 19/07/06 | 200 | 89 | Routine science operations Occultation1 Radio Science Operations |
| 254 | 20/07/06 | 201 | 90 | Routine science operations SCI Data Recovery from TM loss |
| 255 | 21/07/06 | 202 | 91 | Routine science operations Occultation1 Radio Science Operations |
| 256 | 22/07/06 | 203 | 92 | Routine science operations |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 203, 14:00) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 223 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 744 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. next PFS tests in Venus pointing attitude are planned for the first 4 orbits of MTP 6 (24 – 27 September 2006).
SPICAV
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
SPICAV command sequences have been modifies to increase the sampling of shutter LCL current during shutter operations.
VeRA
The USO is nominally powered but muted. Occultation observations with USO un-muted took place on DOY 198, 200 and 202. MTP4 products were updated to alloq occultation ingress and egress observations and the complete re-planning has been completed.
VIRTIS
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
VMC
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
Future Milestones
Throughout the next week focus will be on the the re-planning exercise for MTP5 alongside the execution of current planned activities.
An operational stategy for the upcoming solar conjunction phase in Oct/Nov 2006 will be developed throughout the coming weeks.
