Venus Express ready for lift-off!
08 November 2005
Due for launch on board a Russian Soyuz rocket on 9 November, Venus Express will be the first ESA spacecraft to explore Earth’s near-twin. It is expected to enter orbit around Venus in April 2006.
Flying between 250 and 66,000 km above its poles, the spacecraft will spend two Venusian years (500 Earth days) investigating the thick cloud blanket and atmosphere of Earth’s nearest planetary neighbour.
More than 20 Russian and American spacecraft have been sent to explore the second planet from the Sun, but many mysteries remain:
- What are the temperature and composition of the atmosphere?
- How does the atmosphere circulate?
- How does its composition change from top to bottom?
- How does the atmosphere interact with the surface?
- How does the upper atmosphere interact with the solar wind?
Seven scientific instruments on board Venus Express will try to unravel these mysteries.
As its name suggests, Venus Express was designed and built in just three years – very quick for a planetary spacecraft. Similar to ESA’s successful Mars Express orbiter, the spacecraft has been adapted to cope with higher temperatures and radiation at Venus. Most of its instruments are based on hardware developed for the Mars Express and Rosetta missions.
