Venus Express Enters Orbit
10 April 2006
Venus Express has arrived at Venus after a 50 minute burn of the main engine and entered orbit around the planet. More details at http://venus.esa.int
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ESOC Main Control Room, 57 minutes before start of main engine burn |
10 to 11 April 2006: Final preparations for the manoeuvre
24 hours to 12 hours before VOI, spacecraft controllers will command Venus Express into its final configuration for the burn.
11 April 2006, 06:03 (UT): Venus Express slew manoeuvre
This manoeuvre lasts about half an hour and rotates Venus Express so that the main engine faces the direction of motion.
11 April 2006 07:07 (UT): start of Venus Express Orbit Insertion Activities
| Event | Spacecraft Time (UTC) |
Ground Receive Time (UTC) |
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| VOI LSP start | 07:07:59 | 07:14:44 |
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| VOI main engine start | 07:10:29 | 07:17:14 |
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| Pericentre passage | 07:36:37 |
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| Eclipse start | 07:37:45 |
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| Occultation start (loss of S-band signal) |
07:38:27 | 07:45:12 |
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| Occultation end | 07:48:33 | 07:55:18 |
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| Eclipse end | 07:55:13 |
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| VOI burn end | 08:00:42 | 08:07:28 |
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12 to 13 April 2006: Spacecraft full reactivation starts
During the 24 hours following the orbital capture, time will be dedicated to reactivate all spacecraft functions, including all internal monitoring capacity.
Last Update: 1 September 2019