ESA Venus Express Status No. 38 – Routine Science Operations – Report for Period 23 July to 29 July 2006
02 Aug 2006 11:48
Report for Period 23 July to 29 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 nominal with the exception of a few telemetry outages at the ground station due to a loss of lock.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | VPER# | Main Activity |
| 257 | 23/07/06 | 204 | 93 | Routine science operations, Occultation1 Radio Science Operations |
| 258 | 24/07/06 | 205 | 94 | Routine science operations, Occultation1 Radio Science Operations |
| 259 | 25/07/06 | 206 | 95 | Routine science operations, SSMM storage interrupted due to SCET problem |
| 260 | 26/07/06 | 207 | 96 | Routine science operations |
| 261 | 27/07/06 | 208 | 97 | Routine science operations |
| 262 | 28/07/06 | 209 | 98 | Routine science operations |
| 263 | 29/07/06 | 210 | 99 | Routine science operations, Occultation1 Radio Science Operations |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 210, 14:00 UT) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 229 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 765 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.
VeRA
The USO is nominally powered but muted. Occultation observations with the USO un-muted took place on DOY204 and 210. MTP5 products were also updated to allow occultation ingress and egress observations and the complete re-planning cycle is on-going.
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 re-planning exercise for MTP5 while short term planning for CP14 and pre-checks for CP15 will commence. The IMP swap activity (to prevent degradation) will be scheduled.
The delay in MTP planning due to the various re-planning exercises will be recovered throughout the next reporting period.
An operational strategy for the upcoming solar conjunction phase in October/November 2006 will be developed throughout the coming weeks.
