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No. 36 - Science Operations

No. 36 - Science Operations

Report for Period 9 July to 15 July 2006 During the reporting period the mission operations have been conducted according to plan. The spacecraft performance was nominal throughout the reporting period and several outstanding system level operations have been performed.

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

MET (Day) Date DOY VPER# Main Activity
243 09/07/06 190 79 Routine science operations
244 10/07/06 191 80 Routine science operations
Occultation1 Radio Science Operations
245 11/07/06 192 81 Routine science operations
246 12/07/06 193 82 Routine science operations
247 13/07/06 194 83 Routine science operations
248 14/07/06 195 84 Routine science operations
Upload & activation of thermal onboard monitoring
Occultation1 Radio Science Operations
249 15/07/06 196 85 Routine science operations
Occultation1 Radio Science Operations

At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 196, 14:00) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 218 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 726 seconds.

Payload Activities

ASPERA
The instrument is regularly operated.

MAG
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.

PFS
The instrument is currently OFF and is not included in the routine planning. Current planning does not forsee any PFS testing until early end September/early October 2006.

SPICAV
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.

VeRA
The USO is nominally powered but muted. Occultation observations with USO un-muted took place on DOY 192, 195 and 196.  Unfortunately it was found only after the first observation that radio science data recording is very difficult witin the current scheduled pointing and payload operations and accordingly a revision has been made to the schedule.

VIRTIS
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.

VMC
The instrument is regularly operated as part of the routine plan.

Future Milestones

Throughout the next week the major focus will be on planning for the MTP4 and development of an operational strategy for the upcoming solar conjunction phase in October/November 2006.

Last Update: 1 September 2019
29-Mar-2024 07:28 UT

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