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No. 9 - Passive Cruise Phase Begins

No. 9 - Passive Cruise Phase Begins

Report for Period 16 December 2005 - 05 January 2006During the reporting period the spacecraft has been configured for a passive cruise phase andthe only activities conducted on top of the routine ones are the DDOR tests with ESA (NNO-CEB)and DSN (GDS-CAN) stations.

The spacecraft behaviour has been nominal throughout the reporting period.

The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:

MET (Day)

Date

DOY

Main Activity

38

16/12/05

350

SC Configuration for Cruise phase

39

17/12/05

351

SC Monitoring

40

18/12/05

352

SC Monitoring

41

19/12/05

353

SC Monitoring

42

20/12/05

354

SC Monitoring and ESA DDOR Test 1

43

21/12/05

355

SC Monitoring, ESA DDOR Test 2, DSN DDOR Test 1

44

22/12/05

356

SC Monitoring

45

23/12/05

357

SC Monitoring

46

24/12/05

358

SC Monitoring

47

25/12/05

359

Skipped

48

26/12/05

360

SC Monitoring

49

27/12/05

361

SC Monitoring

50

28/12/05

362

SC Monitoring

51

29/12/05

363

SC Monitoring

52

30/12/05

364

SC Monitoring

53

31/12/05

365

Pass lost

54

01/01/06

1

SC Monitoring (additional pass taken due to loss on DoY 365)

55

02/01/06

2

SC Monitoring

56

03/01/06

3

SC Monitoring

57

04/01/06

4

SC Monitoring

58

05/01/06

5

SC Monitoring (over NNO)

At the end of the last NNO pass in the reporting period (DOY 006, 06:00) Venus Express was 15.5 million km from the Earth, 131.7 million km from the Sun, and 25.5 million km from Venus. The one-way signal travel time was 52 seconds.

Future Milestones

The coming week will mark a "close to inferior conjunction" condition, therefore, no major operations are planned. The actual conjunction condition will be reached on DoY 011 at around 18:00 when the angular distance between the Sun and the spacecraft as seen from the Earth will be approximately 1.6 degrees. No significant impact is foreseen on the RF link.

On DoY 006 a RSI test will take place over New Norcia.

On DoY 008 a passive ASPERA calibration will be conducted via MTL.

Last Update: 1 September 2019
28-Mar-2024 15:04 UT

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