ESA Data Ontology
The :isLeafConcept property marks whether a SKOS concept is a leaf SKOS concept.
Venus Express is ESA's first mission to Venus. It reuses the design of the Mars Express spacecraft. Many of the instruments are simply upgraded versions of those developed for ESA's Mars Express and Rosetta missions. The scientific objectives of the mission is to study the atmosphere, the plasma environment, and the surface of Venus in great detail. Venus Express was launched by a Soyuz-Fregat launcher from the Baikonour Cosmodrome on 9 November 2005. After separation, Venus Express, of mass 1244 kg,was placed into an interplanetary transfer orbit during approximately 150 days. After a 153 day cruise to Venus the spacecraft entered Venusian orbit on 11 april 2006. The first capture orbit was an eccentric polar and lasted 9 days. Several manoeuvres over the period 15 April-6 May 2006 lowered the spacecraft into its operational orbit: a 24-hour elliptical, quasi-polar orbit. The pericentre altitude is 250 kms and the apocentre altitude is 66000 kms. Pericentre altitude 250 km Apocentre altitude 66000 km Period 24 h Inclination ~90 deg Pericentre latitude 80 deg The mission has been described in many papers [ESA2005; HUNTER2004]. Details about the mission launch sequence and timeline can be obtained from the Mission Calendar [DAUVIN2005] and from the Consolidated Report on Mission Analysis (CREMA) [SANCHEZ&RODRIGU2005].
Venus Express
missionsPlanetSCI
Planetary