No. 176 - Mission Operations Update
The high bit rate is possible due to the currently smaller distance between Venus and the Earth - Venus was at inferior conjunction on 27 March, passing between the Earth and the Sun, and moving from eastern elongation (evening star) to western elongation (morning star) as observed from Earth.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities:
| MET (Day) |
Date | DOY | Main Activity |
| 1230 | 22/03/09 | 081 |
Communications pass over Cebreros |
| 1231 | 23/03/09 | 082 |
Communications pass over Cebreros |
| 1232 | 24/03/09 | 083 |
Communications pass over Cebreros |
| 1233 | 25/03/09 | 084 |
Communications pass over Cebreros |
| 1234 | 26/03/09 | 085 |
Communications pass over Cebreros |
| 1235 | 27/03/09 | 086 |
Communications pass over Cebreros |
| 1236 | 28/03/09 | 087 |
Communications pass over Cebreros. |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 087) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 42.12 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 140.43 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 measurements were taken during the reporting period.
VIRTIS
VIRTIS-M was operated in the visual channels only.
VMC
The instrument was regularly operated as part of the routine plan.
Future Milestones
- Preparation for the next gravity observation campaign with the Canberra ground station CAN43 on 15 April 2009.
- Battery Deep Discharge Test is planned for 22 April 2009.
- Start of next (outbound) quadrature phase on 29 May 2009.
- Swap of high gain antenna (HGA) from HGA2 to HGA1 on 8 June 2009.
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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, MOR #176. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (bottom of this page) for terms of use.