No. 151 - Trajectory Control Manoeuvre
A Trajectory Control Manoeuvre (TCM) was performed on Sunday 28 September. This manoeuvre constitutes a phase correction to keep the phasing of Venus Express in its orbit in sync with mission operations from ground.
An ASPERA energy table patch was successfully uploaded on 30 September. The patch corresponds to a new science mode requested by the instrument's Principal Investigator.
The telemetry information rate was increased to 114 kbps before the pass on 2 October.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities:
| MET (Day) | Date | DOY | Main Activity |
| 1055 | 28/09/08 | 272 | Routine Operations. Trajectory Control Manoeuvre |
| 1056 | 29/09/08 | 273 | Routine Operations |
| 1057 | 30/09/08 | 274 | Routine Operations. ASPERA energy table patch uploaded |
| 1058 | 01/10/08 | 275 |
Routine Operations |
| 1059 | 02/10/08 | 276 | Routine Operations. Telemetry bitrate increased to 114 kbps |
| 1060 | 03/10/08 | 277 |
Routine Operations |
| 1061 | 04/10/08 | 278 | Routine Operations |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 278) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 204.8 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 682.89 seconds.
Trajectory Control Manoeuvre
The purpose of the TCM, executed at pericentre on 28 September, was to lower the orbit's apocentre altitude by 5.6 km. The manoeuvre had a nominal magnitude of 30.0 mms-1. The calibration within the orbit determination showed a slight over performance of 0.38% (+0.11 mms-1) with a 1-sigma uncertainty of 0.67% (0.20 mms-1).
Payload Activities
ASPERA
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
The ASPERA energy table patch was uploaded successfully on 30 September.
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 measurements were taken 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
- High gain antenna (HGA1) S-band carrier power test is planned for 15 December 2008
- Next quadrature phase will start on 19 December 2008
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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, MOR #151. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (bottom of this page) for terms of use.