In spite of experiencing a challenging environment, Venus Express is in an excellent condition. It receives four times the amount of solar radiation as its sister spacecraft, Mars Express, but modifications to the spacecraft design have worked just as intended and operation has been very stable.
Many different activities happen on board with each orbit: instruments are switched on and off, they change modes and targets and the spacecraft checks out and monitors its subsystems more or less continuously. The few anomalies that occurred were quickly resolved by vigilant spacecraft controllers.
An impressive amount of data - about 1 Terabits, or one million million bits - has been transmitted to Earth over the first 500 days.
Håkan Svedhem, Venus Express Project Scientist says, "The scientists analysing the data have a challenging but exciting task ahead.” They will have to archive the data and extract the most important detail from this immense collection of images, spectra and profiles of temperature, pressure and chemical composition.
While early results have already been published, some of the first detailed analyses are now being completed and will soon be published in acclaimed scientific journals.
Among many other findings that have surprised scientists, Venus’ atmosphere seems extremely fickle. Recent observations with the Visible and Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIRTIS), the atmospheric structure changes quite rapidly, from day to day.
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| • | Looking at Venus (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus_Express/index.html) |
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| • | ESApod: Venus Express (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus_Express/SEMHXANFGLE_0.html) |
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More about...
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| • | Status reports (http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=31575 &farchive_objecttypeid=30 &farchive_objectid=30930) |
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| • | Venus Express factsheet (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM2EE1A6BD_index_0.html) |
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In depth
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| • | This article in depth (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMLRBMPQ5F_index_0.html) |
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Related articles
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| • | 500 days at Venus, and the surprises keep coming (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMLRBMPQ5F_index_0.html) |
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| • | Venusian rendezvous results: chapter one (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVN4HYX3F_index_0.html) |
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| • | Venus Express and MESSENGER to look at Venus in tandem (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMMC0ARR1F_index_0.html) |
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| • | Ground-based observatories join forces with Venus Express (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMLYY8RR1F_index_0.html) |
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| • | Join ESA on the Venus observation campaign (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM6FWNVGJE_index_0.html) |
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| • | One year at Venus, and going strong (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM26GLJC0F_index_0.html) |
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| • | Tracking alien turbulences with Venus Express (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM9N77DWZE_index_0.html) |
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| • | Hot stuff on Venus! Venus Express sees right down to the hell-hot surface (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM4KXPJNVE_index_0.html) |
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| • | Happy birthday, Venus Express! (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMCTD0CYTE_index_0.html) |
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| • | Complex meteorology at Venus (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM65OV74TE_index_0.html) |
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| • | Flying over the cloudy world – science updates from Venus Express (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM9A3XAIPE_index_0.html) |
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| • | Double vortex at Venus South Pole unveiled! (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYGQEFWOE_index_0.html) |
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| • | Venus Express has reached final orbit (http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM33O8ATME_index_0.html) |
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| • | Unexpected detail in first-ever Venus south pole images (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMUTYNFGLE_index_0.html) |
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