Abstract
Venus Express is the first mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) to Venus. The mission aims at the global and long-term remote and in-situ survey of the atmosphere and the plasma environment from orbit and addresses some aspects of surface physics. The spacecraft, based on the Mars Express bus modified for the conditions at Venus, provides a versatile platform for nadir and limb observations as well as solar, stellar, and radio occultation. The payload consists of seven experiments and includes a powerful suite of imagers and spectrometers, instruments for in-situ analysis of the planetary plasma, and a radio science experiment. For the first time, the investigations make systematic use of the infrared transparency “windows” to probe the lower atmosphere. The polar and highly elliptic 24 hours orbit with pericenter altitude of about 200 km over the Northern polar region and apocenter distance of 66,000 km provides a fortunate combination of global views of the planet with close-up imaging. The spacecraft was inserted in orbit on April 11, 2006 and completed the nominal mission on October 2, 2007. The mission is extended till the end of 2012. Venus Express is a part of the ESA's science program for the exploration of the solar system, which includes missions to the Sun, Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, comets and asteroids.
