ESA title

The mission

Europe’s first mission to Venus, providing an unprecedented global picture of our nearest planetary neighbour. In particular, it investigated Venus's noxious atmosphere and clouds in detail, and mapped the planet’s surface temperatures.

The journey

  • Launch date: 9 November 2005
  • Launch vehicle: Soyuz-Fregat launcher 
  • Venus arrival: 11 April 2006 
  • Mission end: December 2014
Venus Express
Science & Exploration

Tracking a solar eruption through the Solar System

15/08/2017 17008 views 182 likes
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Electric field at Venus
Science & Exploration

Venus has potential – but not for water

20/06/2016 15622 views 115 likes
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Evidence for active volcanoes on Venus
Science & Exploration

Hot lava flows discovered on Venus

18/06/2015 59563 views 142 likes
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Venus Express aerobraking 2014
Science & Exploration

Venus Express goes gently into the night

16/12/2014 38167 views 180 likes
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Science & Exploration

Venus Express: up above the clouds so high

28/07/2014 15426 views 85 likes
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Venus Express aerobraking
Science & Exploration

Venus Express rises again

11/07/2014 53308 views 116 likes
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Visualisation of the Venus Express aerobraking manoeuvre
Science & Exploration

Venus Express gets ready to take the plunge

16/05/2014 38288 views 111 likes
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Venus glory
Science & Exploration

Venus glory

11/03/2014 22651 views 103 likes
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Tracking clouds on Venus
Science & Exploration

The fast winds of Venus are getting faster

18/06/2013 28594 views 87 likes
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Comet-like ionosphere at Venus
Science & Exploration

When a planet behaves like a comet

29/01/2013 19735 views 54 likes
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Is Venus volcanically active?
Science & Exploration

Have Venusian volcanoes been caught in the act?

03/12/2012 17135 views 44 likes
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Venus terminator
Science & Exploration

A curious cold layer in the atmosphere of Venus

01/10/2012 16973 views 28 likes
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Transit of Venus as seen from Canberra, Australia
Science & Exploration

Transit of Venus wows astronomers worldwide

06/06/2012 4757 views 0 likes
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Stellar occultation at Venus
Science & Exploration

ESA missions gear up for transit of Venus

04/06/2012 3704 views 3 likes
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Science & Exploration

Get ready for the transit of Venus!

24/05/2012 2281 views 1 likes
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Venus
Science & Exploration

Could Venus be shifting gear?

10/02/2012 15473 views 22 likes
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Stellar occultation at Venus
Science & Exploration

ESA finds that Venus has an ozone layer too

06/10/2011 13556 views 15 likes
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Animation of planet Venus
Science & Exploration

Venus holds warning for Earth

30/11/2010 25210 views 17 likes
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Science & Exploration

Venus Express finds planetary atmospheres such a drag

07/10/2010 3506 views 5 likes
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Venus in the ultraviolet
Science & Exploration

Was Venus once a habitable planet?

24/06/2010 23057 views 46 likes
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Venus Express
Enabling & Support

Surfing an alien atmosphere

21/04/2010 2353 views 1 likes
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Science & Exploration

Venus is alive – geologically speaking

08/04/2010 9554 views 24 likes
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Science & Exploration

New map hints at Venus' wet, volcanic past

14/07/2009 7008 views 7 likes
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Atmospheric investigations by Venus Express
Science & Exploration

Watching Venus glow in the dark

24/02/2009 4501 views 2 likes
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Mars Express
Science & Exploration

ESA extends missions studying Mars, Venus and Earth’s magne…

10/02/2009 2388 views 0 likes
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Interaction between Venus and the solar wind
Science & Exploration

Where did Venus’s water go?

18/12/2008 25627 views 30 likes
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Venus in the ultraviolet
Science & Exploration

Venus comes to life at wavelengths invisible to human eyes

03/12/2008 4683 views 1 likes
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Earth atmosphere’s molecules detected by Venus Express
Science & Exploration

Venus Express searching for life – on Earth

10/10/2008 5049 views 7 likes
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Artist's impression of Venus Express
Science & Exploration

First set of Venus Express data goes public

22/09/2008 423 views 0 likes
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Wind circulation on Venus
Science & Exploration

How windy is it on Venus? Venus Express answers

18/09/2008 10939 views 10 likes
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Artist's impression of Venus Express
Science & Exploration

Closing in on Venus

17/07/2008 1838 views 1 likes
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Southern hemisphere of Venus in the ultraviolet
Science & Exploration

New details on venusian clouds revealed

30/05/2008 4544 views 3 likes
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Hydroxyl detected in the Venusian atmosphere
Science & Exploration

Key molecule discovered in Venus’s atmosphere

15/05/2008 4865 views 2 likes
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Artist's impression of Venus Express
Science & Exploration

Two years of spying on Earth’s twin planet

11/04/2008 1032 views 3 likes
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Stellar occultation at Venus
Science & Exploration

Venus Express reboots the search for active volcanoes on Ve…

04/04/2008 2562 views 3 likes
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The eye of the hurricane
Science & Exploration

The puzzling 'eye of a hurricane' on Venus

13/03/2008 6703 views 2 likes
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Interaction between Venus and the solar wind
Science & Exploration

Mars and Venus are surprisingly similar

05/03/2008 25387 views 17 likes
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The light and dark of Venus
Science & Exploration

The light and dark of Venus

21/02/2008 8150 views 8 likes
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Molecules in the Venusian atmosphere
Science & Exploration

Venus Express seeks out gases below the clouds

04/02/2008 2691 views 1 likes
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‘A breath of Venus’ - an educational film
Science & Exploration

Christmas greetings from Venus – with a new educational film

18/12/2007 1696 views 2 likes
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Venus Express
Science & Exploration

Venus reveals its turbulent atmosphere and water loss

29/11/2007 464 views 0 likes
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Venus loses hydrogen through the wake
Science & Exploration

Caught in the wind from the Sun

28/11/2007 6215 views 0 likes
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South polar dipole mosaic
Science & Exploration

The restless atmosphere of Venus

28/11/2007 4660 views 5 likes
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Vertical profiles of pressure on Earth and Venus
Science & Exploration

The unexpected temperature profile of Venus’s atmosphere

28/11/2007 18861 views 8 likes
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Interaction between Venus and the solar wind
Science & Exploration

Venus: Earth’s twin planet?

28/11/2007 1064 views 0 likes
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Interaction between Venus and the solar wind
Science & Exploration

Venus: Earth’s twin planet?

28/11/2007 21403 views 16 likes
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Venus Express detects evidence of lightning
Science & Exploration

Climate and Evolution

28/11/2007 5134 views 1 likes
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Oxygen airglow over clouds at Venus
Science & Exploration

The restless atmosphere - page two

28/11/2007 878 views 0 likes
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South polar dipole movie – different view
Science & Exploration

The restless atmosphere - page one

28/11/2007 1342 views 1 likes
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Plasma environment at Venus
Science & Exploration

Atmosphere and solar wind

28/11/2007 1190 views 0 likes
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