Venus Orbit Insertion timeline
Timeline of events during today's Venus Orbit Insertion (VOI) manoeuvre, marking arrival of ESA's Venus Express spacecraft at its destination.
VOI is a series of telecommands, engine burns and manoeuvres designed to slow the spacecraft from a velocity of 29 000 kilometres per hour relative to Venus to an entry velocity some 15 percent slower, allowing it to be captured into orbit around the planet.
| Time (CEST) | Event |
| 08:03 |
VEX slew manoeuvre starts This rotation, to last about half an hour, will re-orient the spacecraft to have the main engine facing the direction of motion, and so allow the braking manouevre. |
| 09:17 |
Venus Express main engine burn starts Venus Express main engine is due to fire for 50 minutes. |
| 09:45 |
Occultation starts (loss of S-band signal) An occultation occurs when Venus Express travels behind the planet so that the line of sight to Earth is blocked; it will lose radio contact (S-band) for almost 10 minutes. During the journey to Venus, communication has been in X-band, via the high-gain antenna HGA2. During VOI, neither of the two high-gain antennas can be used because of the spacecraft orientation. Only the low gain antenna (S-band) can carry a feeble signal to Earth to tell about the spacecraft velocity. |
| 09:55 |
Occultation ends Controllers will closely watch for reacquisition of radio contact once the occultation ends. |
| 10:07 | VEX main engine burn ends |
| 10:10 | Announcement by Flight Operations Director |
| 11.07 |
X-band transmitter on The X-band transmitter connected to the high-gain antenna HGA2 will be switched on, and will start sending information to Earth about the health status of the spacecraft. |
| 11:12 | Telemetry received |
| 11:30-12:15 | Press Conference |
All times above are 'Earth Received' time - i.e. after the actual events have taken place at the spacecraft. During orbit insertion, the spacecraft will be 125 000 000 kilometres from Earth and the round-trip signal time will be 13 minutes and 32 seconds.
Related links
ESA astronaut C. Nicollier on voyaging to Venus
mms://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/audio/cn_venus.mp3- VOI highlights and press conference
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Watch_the_Venus_Express_orbit_insertion_highlights_and_press_conference - ESApod: Venus Express
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_Express_ESApod_br - Venus Express’ initial orbit matches expectations
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_Express_initial_orbit_matches_expectations - Venus Express 'talks' to Earth
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_Express_talks_to_Earth - Venus Express main engine burn ended
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_Express_main_engine_burn_ended - Venus Express reappears from behind Venus
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_Express_reappears_from_behind_Venus - Pre-planned thrill - Venus Express disappears behind Venus
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Pre-planned_thrill_-_Venus_Express_disappears_behind_Venus - Venus Express main engine burn starts
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Venus_Express_main_engine_burn_starts - Venus Express slews and prepares to ‘brake’
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Venus_Express_slews_and_prepares_to_brake - Venus Orbit Insertion timeline
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_Orbit_Insertion_timeline - Looking at Venus
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express - ESA’s Venus Express to reach final destination
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/ESA_s_Venus_Express_to_reach_final_destination - Venus within ESA probe reach
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_within_ESA_probe_reach - And now… straight to Venus!
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/And_now_straight_to_Venus - Successful Venus Express main engine test
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Successful_Venus_Express_main_engine_test - First light for the Venus Monitoring Camera
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/First_light_for_the_Venus_Monitoring_Camera - Venus Express performs flawlessly, LEOP complete
http://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESOC/Venus_Express_performs_flawlessly_LEOP_complete - Venus Express mission operations update
http://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESOC/Venus_Express_mission_operations_update - Venus Express en route to probe the planet's hidden mysteries
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Venus_Express_en_route_to_probe_the_planet_s_hidden_mysteries - Venus Express operations
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Venus_Express_operations - Webcam from ESOC
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/ESA_ESOC_Main_Control_Room_webcam