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05 February 2009
Report for Period 25 January to 31 January 2009 Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. Sunday, 25 January, was the last day of this inbound quadrature phase. Having been in a tilted configuration since 19 December 2008, the spacecraft started performing communication passes in a non-tilted configuration again on 26 January.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities: | MET (Day) | Date | DOY | Main Activity | | 1174 | 25/01/09 | 025 | Communications pass over Cebreros | | 1175 | 26/01/09 | 026 | Communications pass over Cebreros | | 1176 | 27/01/09 | 027 | Communications pass over Cebreros | | 1177 | 28/01/09 | 028 | Communications pass over Cebreros | | 1178 | 29/01/09 | 029 | Communications pass over Cebreros | | 1179 | 30/01/09 | 030 | Communications pass over Cebreros.
Telemetry bitrate increased to 57.1 kbps after the end of pass | | 1180 | 31/01/09 | 031 | Communications pass over Cebreros | At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 031) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 83.9 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 279.7 seconds. Payload Activities ASPERA
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan. MAG
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan. PFS
The instrument was not operated during the reporting period. SPICAV
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan. VeRA
No measurements were taken during the reporting period. VIRTIS
VIRTIS was operated in the visual channels again from 28 January onward. VMC
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan. Future Milestones - Commissioning of the Reaction Control Subsystem B on 12 February 2009.
- Preparation for next gravity observation campaign with the Canberra ground station CAN43.
- Battery Deep Discharge Test is planned for 22 April 2009.
- Start of next (outbound) quadrature phase on 29 May 2009.
- Swap of high gain antenna (HGA) from HGA2 to HGA1 on 8 June 2009.
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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, MOR #168. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (bottom of this page) for terms of use.
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