No. 184 - Mission Operations Report
The Herschel and Planck LEOP went very smooth and was completed earlier than scheduled. Cebreros communication passes for Venus Express were restored to nominal pass times from 21 May onwards.
The table below shows a chronology of the main activities:
| MET (Day) |
Date | DOY | Main Activity |
| 1286 | 17/05/09 | 137 |
Cebreros communications pass shortened for Herschel and Planck LEOP |
| 1287 | 18/05/09 | 138 |
Cebreros communications pass shortened for Herschel and Planck LEOP |
| 1288 | 19/05/09 | 139 |
Cebreros communications pass shortened for Herschel and Planck LEOP |
| 1289 | 20/05/09 | 140 |
Cebreros communications pass shortened for Herschel and Planck LEOP |
| 1290 | 21/05/09 | 141 |
Communications pass over Cebreros. |
| 1291 | 22/05/09 | 142 |
Communications pass over Cebreros |
| 1292 | 23/05/09 | 143 |
Communications pass over Cebreros, shortened at the end by 1.5 hours for Mars Express |
At the end of the last Cebreros pass in the reporting period (DOY 143) Venus Express was orbiting Venus at 89 million km from the Earth. The one-way signal travel time was 297 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
- 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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This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, MOR #184. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (bottom of this page) for terms of use.