ESA Venus Express Status Report No. 56 Routine Science Operations
05 Dec 2006 09:10
Report for Period 26 November to 2 December
During the reporting period the mission operations have been conducted according to the plan.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | VPER# | Main Activity |
| 376 | 19/11/06 | 323 | 212 | Routine Mission operations. |
| 377 | 20/11/06 | 324 | 213 | Routine Mission operations. Complete dump of missed science data. |
| 378 | 21/11/06 | 325 | 214 | Routine Mission operations |
| 379 | 22/11/06 | 326 | 215 | Routine Mission operations |
| 380 | 23/11/06 | 327 | 216 | Routine Mission operations |
| 381 | 24/11/06 | 328 | 217 | Routine Mission operations |
| 382 | 25/11/06 | 329 | 218 | Routine Mission operations. Transient loss uplink from Cebreros. |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 336, 16:00z) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 252 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 840 seconds.
Payload Activities
ASPERA
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan. All science data lost on DOY 329 was subsequently retrieved.
MAG
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
PFS
This instrument is OFF and is not operated.
SPICAV
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan. All science data lost on DOY 329 was subsequently retrieved.
VeRA
The USO is nominally powered but muted. There were no RSI activities during this reporting period.
VIRTIS
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
VMC
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
Mission Planning
Short Term Planning
Operations of STP030 were executed successfully and the planning of STP031 was completed in time.
Long Term Planning
A decision whether to request DSN support for the movie observation has not been taken yet.
Future Milestones
The second Earth occultation season will start in December with additional Radio Science operations with the ESA New Norcia station.
Planning of the entire Christmas period will be completed next week (STPs 34 through 37, plus MTPs 11 and 12).
An orbit correction manoeuvre is to be performed at pericenter passage on 15 December, followed by a touch-up manoeuvre on 21 December.
