ESA Science & Technology - No. 132 - Routine Operations

Four passes were split into two parts in order to allow GS support for Phoenix delta-differential one-way rangings (DDOR). Telecommunication bitrate was decreased in preparation for the upcoming Superior Conjunction phase.

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

At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 145) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 258.6 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 862 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 observations were made during the reporting period.

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

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

Future Milestones

• Start of solar conjunction activities
• Release of the HGA-1 S-band anomaly report
• In preparation for the combined activity of VERA occultation plus drag measurements, the feasibility of two way link with USO (ultra-stable oscillator) configuration is being investigated. These combined activities will take place during two days via New Norcia and another two days via DSN station by end July, begin August
• Solar conjunction HGA-1 gain check: the uplink and downlink carrier power in X-band via HGA-1 will be measured and recorded before and during the superior conjunction

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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, MOR #132. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (bottom of this page) for terms of use.