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No. 131 - Trajectory Control Manoeuvre

No. 131 - Trajectory Control Manoeuvre

Report for Period 11 May to 17 May 2008Operations have been nominal during the reporting period. Four passes were split into two parts in order to allow ground station support for Phoenix delta DORs. On 16 May, a trajectory control manoeuvre (TCM) was successfully performed. Telecommunication bit rate was decreased in preparation for the upcoming superior conjunction phase.

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

MET (Day) Date DOY Main Activity
915 11/05/08 132 Routine Operations
916 12/05/08 133 Routine Operations
917 13/05/08 134 Routine Operations.
Split pass for Phoenix DDOR
918 14/05/08 135 Routine Operations.
Short pass due to Phoenix DDOR supported by Cebreros.
919 15/05/08 136 Routine Operations.
Split pass for Phoenix DDOR
920 16/05/08 137 Routine Operations.
Split pass for Phoenix DDOR.
TC bit rate changed to 1000 bps.
The TCM was executed, delivering a delta-V of around 0.43 ms-1
921 17/05/08 138 Routine operations.
Split pass for Phoenix DDOR.
During the gap caused by the split pass, a reaction wheel off-loading was performed.

At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 138) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 257.4 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 858 seconds.

Trajectory Control Manoeuvre
The TCM was executed at pericentre on 16 May, at 03.14 UT. The purpose was to raise the apocentre altitude by 80 km, increasing the orbital period by 133 seconds. The manoeuvre had a nominal magnitude of 0.433 ms-1.

The calibration within the orbit determination showed a slight underperformance of 0.80% (-3.4 mms-1). The 1-sigma uncertainty on this result is 0.26% (1.1 mms-1). The increase in apocentre altitude was 640 m less than planned and the increase in orbital period was 1.1 seconds less than planned.

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 performed during the reporting period.

VIRTIS
During the reporting period, the M and H instruments were only operated on DOY 135.

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

Future Milestones

  • 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 a two way link with 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, beginning of August
  • Solar conjunction HGA-1 gain check: the uplink and downlink carrier power in X-band via HGA1 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 #131. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (bottom of this page) for terms of use.

Last Update: 1 September 2019
29-Mar-2024 00:20 UT

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