ESA Venus Express Status Report No. 50 – Start of Conjunction Operations
24 Oct 2006 09:03
Report for Period 15 October to 21 October 2006
During the reporting period the mission operations have been conducted according to the plan. The spacecraft has been configured for conjuntion operations during the solar conjunction period, which is planned to end on 9 November 2006. During this period the payload is switched off.
Some uplink problems from Cebreros related to the X-Band up converter were encountered throughout the reporting period. Spacecraft operations were performed according to plan.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | VPER# | Main Activity |
| 341 | 15/10/06 | 288 | 177 | Routine science operations Payloads OFF TCM (out of pass) |
| 342 | 16/10/06 | 289 | 178 | Configuration for Conjunction operations Service 12 TT&C switch over |
| 343 | 17/10/06 | 290 | 179 | Reconfiguration to nominal Tx chain TM bit rate change to 298 bps TC bit rate change to 250 bps |
| 344 | 18/10/06 | 291 | 180 | Conjunction operations |
| 345 | 19/10/06 | 292 | 181 | Conjunction operations |
| 346 | 20/10/06 | 293 | 182 | Conjunction operations Maximized tracking time for orbit determination |
| 347 | 21/10/06 | 294 | 183 | Conjunction operations |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 294, 16:00z) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 256 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 855 seconds.
Payload Activities
ASPERA
The instrument is OFF throughout the conjunction period.
MAG
The instrument is OFF throughout the conjunction period.
PFS
The instrument is OFF and remains inactive.
SPICAV
The instrument is OFF throughout the conjunction period.
VeRA
The USO is nominally powered but muted. Solar Corona Observations using DSN 70m station in Canberra were performed on DoY 290, 291, 292, 293, 294.
VIRTIS
The instrument is OFF throughout the conjunction period and the release of VIRTIS related commands from the MTL is disabled until actions to prevent further safe modes have been taken.
VMC
The instrument is OFF throughout the conjunction period.
Mission Planning
Short Term Planning
Operations planning for the conjunction period STP24, 25, 26, 27 have been completed successfully in the previous reporting period. DSN key file for Solar Corona observations in STP25 has been produced and sent to DSN.
Medium Term Planning
MTP09 was fully processed and a report generated.
Long Term Planning
Cebreros Maintenance windows for 2007 were negotiated and scheduled in station allocation file.
VSOC should provide to VMOC Radio Science New Norcia requirements for October to December 2007.
Future Milestones
The centre of conjunction will occur at a minimum Sun-Earth-Probe angle of 0.953° on 28 October 2006 (DoY301).
Conjunction exit is planned for 9 November 2006 (DoY313).
