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ESA to Launch Venus Express on Nov. 9 |
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PARIS, Nov. 8, 2005/Satnews Daily/ — The European Space Agency said a Soyuz-Fregat rocket will launch Venus Express on Wednesday, 9 November 2005 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
ESA said it has opted to launch Venus Express within the first possible 'launch window', which opened on 26 October and will close on 24 November this year. Due to the relative motion of Earth and Venus, plus Earth's daily rotation, there is only one short period per day when it is possible to launch, lasting only a few seconds. The launch is now planned at 04:33 Central European Time (CET) (09:33 in Baikonur).
Venus Express will take 155 days, a little more than five months, to reach Venus. Then, in April 2006, the adventure of exploration will begin with Venus finally welcoming a spacecraft, a fully European one, more than ten years after humankind paid the last visit.
Venus Express is an almost identical twin spacecraft to Mars Express, but adapted to operate in the hot and harsh environment around Venus. It was built by EADS Astrium, Toulouse (France). Completing the spacecraft took less than four years from concept to launch, making it the fastest-built ESA scientific satellite ever.
ESA said the Soyuz-Fregat rocket, will set Venus Express on course for its target. Soyuz, procured by the European/Russian Starsem company, consists of three main stages with an additional upper stage, Fregat, atop. Venus Express is attached to this upper stage.
Once separated from Fregat at 06:10 CET, Venus Express will be awoken from its dormant status by a series of automatic on-board commands, such as the activation of its propulsion and thermal control systems, the deployment of solar arrays and maneuvers to 'orient' itself in space.
ESA said other newly inaugurated Cebreros station in Spain, with its 35-metre antenna, will start to take an active part in ground network operations to relay information between ESOC and the spacecraft on Nov. 11. During the cruise phase and once the spacecraft has arrived at Venus, Cebreros will be the main information relay point between ESOC and Venus Express.
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