Status Report

ESA Venus Express Status Report No. 98

By SpaceRef Editor
October 17, 2007
Filed under , , ,
ESA Venus Express Status Report No. 98
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The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:









































MET (Day) Date DOY Main Activity
684 23/09/07 266 Routine operations
685 24/09/07 267 Routine operations
686 25/09/07 268 Routine Operations. DDOR test
687 26/09/07 269 Routine Operations. TM bitrate decreased to 76 kbps after the pass. DDOR test.
688 27/09/07 270 Routine Operations. Pass shortened because of Cebreros maintenance.
689 28/09/07 271 Routine Operations. DDOR test with ESA stations. NASA cancelled because of DAWN launch support
690 29/09/07 272 Routine Operations

At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 272, 18:00z) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 71.3 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 237 seconds.


Payload Activities


ASPERA
The instrument was operated as part of the routine plan.


MAG
The instrument was operated as part of the routine plan.


PFS
The instrument was not operated during the reporting period.


SPICAV
The instrument was operated as part of the routine plan.


VeRA
No RSI activities took place this week.


VIRTIS
Operations on VIRTIS M continued until DOY 267. An anomaly on the VIRTIS M cooler current developed during the pass and VIRTIS was switched OFF. All covers are closed and VIRTIS is in a safe state. Failure of both the H and M cooler is under investigation.


VMC
The instrument was operated as part of the routine plan. Brief interuption of science observations between DOY 267, 19:39:04 and DOY 268, 01:13:00 due to temporary closed link to the SSMM.


Future Milestones



  • Continue DDORs with DSN and ESA stations in coming week
  • Quadrature start on 19 October

SpaceRef staff editor.