ESA Venus Express Status Report No. 46 – Safe Mode Recovery
28 Sep 2006 16:00
Report for Period 17 September to 23 September 2006
The reporting period contained a spacecraft hardware safe which occurred on 22 September (DoY 265) at 19:24 UT.
The outage has caused the following impact at mission level :
- science operations from Safe Mode occurrence until spacecraft recovery to nominal operations (266 11.00) have been skipped
- USO switched OFF for about 15 hours
The spacecraft is now back in routine operations and nominal planning for the upcoming week has already been resumed. The ground segment performance has been nominal throughout the reporting period.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | VPER# | Main Activity |
| 313 | 17/09/06 | 260 | 149 | Routine science operations |
| 314 | 18/09/06 | 261 | 150 | Routine science operations |
| 315 | 19/09/06 | 262 | 151 | Routine science operations |
| 316 | 20/09/06 | 263 | 152 | Routine science operations SPS Project Interface Test with DSS25 |
| 317 | 21/09/06 | 264 | 153 | Routine science operations |
| 318 | 22/09/06 | 265 | 154 | Routine science operations |
| 319 | 23/09/06 | 266 | 155 | Safe Mode recovery Routine science operations |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 266, 16:00) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 253 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 843 seconds.
Payload Activities
ASPERA
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
MAG
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan. At safe mode transition, the instrument was ON. The safing AP powered off the instrument. The instrument was switched back on as part of the Safe Mode recovery at DoY 266, 10:28.
PFS
The instrument is currently OFF and is not included in the routine planning. PFS tests in Venus pointing attitude are planned for the next reporting period.
SPICAV
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
VeRA
The USO is nominally powered but muted. After the Safe Mode the USO remained powered OFF for approximately 15 hours.
VIRTIS
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan. Status of the VIRTIS Shutter after the Safe Mode is currently under investigation. At safe mode transition, the instrument was ON. The safing AP powered off the instrument.
VMC
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan. At safe mode transition, the instrument was ON. The safing AP powered off the instrument.
Mission Planning
Short Term Planning
Operations of STP20 have been completed successfully and the planning of STP21 was completed in time. A pre-check of the payload requests for STP22 was also successful.
Medium Term Planning
The inputs for MTP08 were received and processing started.
Long Term Planning
A new FECS and new BRF files, covering the period up to MTP12 next year, were delivered to VSOC. An error in the FECS generation (missing one ground station pass) was spotted by VSOC. The error was immediately corrected but the route cause remains under investigation.
Future Milestones
Throughout the next week short term planning for STP22 and pre-checks for STP23 will commence.
PFS tests in Venus nadir pointing attitude will be executed in STP21.
Planning activities for MTP08 will be performed.
An operational strategy for the upcoming solar conjunction phase in October/November 2006 will be tested in the next weeks.
