ESA Venus Express Status Report No. 52 – Conjunction Operations
07 Nov 2006 14:38
Report for Period 29 October to 4 November 2006
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | VPER# | Main Activity |
| 355 | 29/10/06 | 302 | 191 | Conjunction operations |
| 356 | 30/10/06 | 303 | 192 | Conjunction operations |
| 357 | 31/10/06 | 304 | 193 | Conjunction operations |
| 358 | 01/11/06 | 305 | 194 | Conjunction operations |
| 359 | 02/11/06 | 306 | 195 | Conjunction operations |
| 360 | 03/11/06 | 307 | 196 | Conjunction operations |
| 361 | 04/11/06 | 308 | 197 | Conjunction operations |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 308, 18:00z) 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
This instrument is OFF.
SPICAV
The instrument is OFF throughout the conjunction period.
VeRA
The USO is nominally powered but muted. Solar Corona observations were performed on DoY 304, 306, 307 and 308.
VIRTIS
The instrument is OFF throughout the conjunction period.
VMC
The instrument is OFF throughout the conjunction period.
Mission Planning
Short Term Planning
Real time operations to reconfigure the spacecraft after the conjunction period were specified in the applicable pass sheets.
The DSN key file for solar corona observations in STP27 has been produced and sent to DSN.
The dates of delivery of planning product covering the Christmas period were agreed with the Venus Science Operations Centre (VSOC) and Flight Dynamics (FD).
Long Term Planning
The amount of data generated by “movie observation” in April 2007 and the related DSN support are currently being discussed. Once the data volume is clear, it will be decided whether DSN 70m support is required.
Future Milestones
The conjunction phase will end on 9 November, the spacecraft will be reconfigured, telemetry stored throughout the conjunction period will be downloaded to ground and normal payload operations will be resumed on 11 November.
Resumption of VIRTIS operations is pending results of the tests conducted by the PI.
