Venus Express-The first European mission to Venus
Svedhema, H. ; Titovb, D.V. ; McCoya, D. ; et al. ; - ASI Sponsor
Jan - 2007
DOI: IO.1016\{j.pss.2007.0 1.013}

journal : Planetary and Space Science
type: Article Journal

Abstract
Venus Express is the first European mission to planet Venus, Tbe mission aims at a comprehensive investigation ofVenus atmosphere and plasma environment and will address some important aspects of the surface physics from orbit. In particular, Venus Express will focus on the structure, composition, and dynamics of the Venus atmosphere, escape processes and interaction of the atmosphere with the solar wind and so to provide answers to the many questions that stili remain unanswered in these fields. Venus Express will enable a breakthrough in Venus science after a long period of silence since the period of intense exploration in the 1970s and the 1980s, The payload consists of seven instruments. Five of them were inherited from the Mars Express and Rosetta projects while two instruments were designed and built specificallyfor Venus Express. The suite of spectrometers and imaging instruments, together with tbe radio-science experiment, and the plasma package make up an optimised payload well capable of addressing the mission goals to sufficient depth. Several of the instruments will make specific use of the spectral windows at infrared wavelengths in order to study the atmosphere in thrce dimensions. The spacecraft is based on the Mars Express design with minor modifications mainly needed to cope with the thermal environment around Venus, and so a very cost-efTectivemission has been realised in an exceptionally short time. The spacecraft was launched on 9 November 2005 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, by a Russian Soyuz-Fregat launcher and arrived at Venus on Il ApriI 2006. Venus Express willcarry out observations ofthe planet from a highly elliptic potar orbit with a 24-h periodoIn 3 Earth years (4 Venus sidereal days) of operations, it will return about 2Tbit of scientific data .

keywords : VENUS EXPRESS