No. 20 - Perihelion Passage onto Venus Approach
The latest assessment of the trajectory has confirmed the need for a Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre to be executed at VOI - 13 days. This manoeuvre will set the spacecraft on the final trajectory to the target point for arrival.
DDOR measurements with ESA and DSN ground stations are continuously conducted.
On DoY 080 (21 March) Venus Express reached its closest point to the Sun (about 105.27 million km). The spacecraft is now heading away from the Sun and will re-cross the orbit of Venus on 11 April.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the reporting period:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | Main Activity |
| 129 | 17/03/06 | 076 | SC monitoring a S-TX2 Switch ON |
| 130 | 18/03/06 | 077 | SC monitoring and Goldstone proficiency pass |
| 131 | 19/03/06 | 078 | SC monitoring |
| 132 | 20/03/06 | 079 | OBSM activities to fix AR-16 and Madrid sweep test |
| 133 | 21/03/06 | 080 | IMP Switched to 6 axes and HTR8A Management extended |
| 134 | 22/03/06 | 081 | SC monitoring |
| 135 | 23/03/06 | 082 | CEB/NNO DDOR and SC monitoring |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 082, 13:00) Venus Express was at 93.3 million km from the Earth, 105.3 million km from the Sun, and 7.5 million km from Venus. The one-way signal travel time was 312 seconds.
Payload Activities
ASPERA
The instrument is off.
MAG
The instrument is off.
PFS
The instrument is off.
SPICAV
The instrument is off.
VeRA
The USO is kept powered but muted.
VIRTIS
The instrument is off.
VMC
The instrument is off.
Future Milestones
Activities for the Venus approach will continue for the next weeks including a re-targeting manoeuvre to be executed in the evening of DoY 088 (29 March). After the manoeuvre the focus will be on the final orbit determination and the preparation for the commands for the activities of VOI and the capture orbit.
As from DoY 082 the whole ground segment will be frozen in order to prevent unauthorised changes to the configuration before the orbit insertion.
As from DoY 094 dual stations coverage (Cebreros and New Norcia) will begin and will be maintained untill after VOI.