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| No. 163 - Quadrature Operations |
Report for Period 21 December to 27 December 2008
Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The spacecraft is currently in quadrature phase, when the Sun-Spacecraft-Earth angle is between 75° and 95°. |
| Date: 30 Dec 2008 |
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| No. 162 - Start of Quadrature Phase |
Report for Period 14 December to 20 December 2008 The Venus Express spacecraft entered nominally in the quadrature phase - the period during which the Sun-Spacecraft-Earth angle is between 75° and 95°. During the quadrature phase revised operating constraints on the VMC lead to the necessity for changing the spacecraft attitude to prevent unacceptable illumination of the VMC. To achieve this attitude fake ephemerides on the positions of the spacecraft and the Earth are uploaded to Venus Express. The first tilted communications pass was on 19 December 2008. |
| Date: 24 Dec 2008 |
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| No. 161 - Mission Update |
Report for Period 7 December to 13 December 2008 Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. VIRTIS continues to be operated in the visual channels only. Time correlation was performed on DOY 344. Radio Science Investigation (RSI) occultation measurements were taken during five ground station passes in the reporting period. |
| Date: 17 Dec 2008 |
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| No. 108 - Mission Operations Update |
Report for Period 1 November to 5 December 2008
The reporting period covers five weeks of active cruise phase dedicated to remaining payload check-out 8 (PC8) tests (for RSI) and investigation activities linked to anomalies recorded during the payload check-out and the asteroid fly-by phase. |
| Date: 10 Dec 2008 |
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| No. 160 - Cebreros Resumes Operations |
Report for Period 30 November to 6 December 2008 Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The first day of the reporting period was the last day of the extended maintenance downtime for the Cebreros ground station. On this last day (DOY 335) the New Norcia ground station performed the communication pass. The Cebreros ground station was returned to operations on DOY 336 and subsequently resumed to support the daily communication passes for Venus Express. |
| Date: 10 Dec 2008 |
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| No. 159 - Mission Update |
Report for Period 23 November to 29 November 2008 Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. Because of on-going maintenance activities at Cebreros, the New Norcia (NNO) ground station was used for communication with the spacecraft. Some of these communication passes were combined with radio science occultation experiments. On two occasions NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) stations were used to support communication with the spacecraft. |
| Date: 03 Dec 2008 |
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| No. 158 - Cebreros Refurbishment |
Report for Period 16 November to 22 November 2008
This reporting period marks the beginning of the Cebreros ground station downtime, which will be out of operations until 1 December 2008 for refurbishment activities. The New Norcia ground station is used for routine communication with the spacecraft during the Cebreros downtime. At the same time, radio science investigation (RSI) occultation observations are also performed during certain New Norcia passes, combining this activity with the routine communication tasks. |
| Date: 26 Nov 2008 |
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| No. 157 - End of Eclipse Season |
Report for Period 9 November to 15 November 2008
Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The batteries have performed nominally during the eclipse season that started on 19 September and ended on 12 November 2008 (DOY 317). VIRTIS was only operated in the visual channels. |
| Date: 19 Nov 2008 |
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| No. 156 - Eclipse Season |
Report for Period 2 November to 8 November 2008
Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The batteries continue to perform nominally during the eclipse season that started on 19 September and will end on 11 November. VIRTIS was only operated in the visual channels. |
| Date: 12 Nov 2008 |
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| No. 107 - Mission Operations Update |
Report for Period 6 October to 31 October 2008 The reporting period covers four weeks of active cruise phase. An investigation was performed of a problem that had occurred with the COSIMA instrument during the asteroid Steins fly-by, focussing on the instrument's Target Manipulation Unit (TMU). |
| Date: 11 Nov 2008 |
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| No. 155 - Eclipse Season |
Report for Period 26 October to 1 November 2008
Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The batteries continue to perform nominally during the eclipse season that started on 19 September and will end on 11 November. |
| Date: 07 Nov 2008 |
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| No. 154 - Eclipse Season |
Report for Period 19 October to 25 October 2008
Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The batteries continue to perform nominally during the eclipse season that started on 19 September and will end on 11 November. |
| Date: 29 Oct 2008 |
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| No. 153 - Eclipse Season |
Report for Period 12 October to 18 October 2008 Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The batteries continue to perform nominally during the eclipse season that started on 19 September. |
| Date: 21 Oct 2008 |
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| No. 152 - Eclipse Season |
Report for Period 5 October to 11 October 2008 Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The batteries are performing nominally since the start of the eclipse season on 19 September. |
| Date: 15 Oct 2008 |
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| No. 106 - Gravitational Microlensing Observations Completed |
Report for Period 20 September 2008 to 5 October 2008 The reporting period covers two weeks of activities mainly dedicated to the OSIRIS gravitational microlensing event observations. |
| Date: 10 Oct 2008 |
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| No. 151 - Trajectory Control Manoeuvre |
Report for Period 28 September to 4 October 2008 Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The batteries are performing nominally during the regular eclipses in the current eclipse season. |
| Date: 08 Oct 2008 |
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| No. 150 - Eclipse Season |
Report for Period 21 September to 27 September 2008 Nominal operations were conducted during the reporting period. The batteries continue to perform nominally during the eclipse season that started on 19 September. As part of the routine operations, the voltage and current evolution is closely monitored during the eclipses. The eclipse season will last until 11 November. |
| Date: 01 Oct 2008 |
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| No. 149 - Start of Eclipse Season |
Report for Period 14 September to 20 September 2008 Nominal Venus Express mission operations were conducted during the reporting period. The eclipse season started with the spacecraft passing daily through Venus's shadow from 19 September onward. During these brief daily eclipses the solar arrays are not illuminated by the Sun's light. |
| Date: 26 Sep 2008 |
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| No. 105 - Gravitational Microlensing Observations |
Report for Period 6 September to 19 September 2008 The reporting period covers the two weeks of post-asteroid fly-by activities mainly dedicated to the downlink of science data. All science data acquired during the asteroid fly-by phase have been successfully retrieved on ground and operations are now continuing with the OSIRIS observations of gravitational microlensing events.
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| Date: 23 Sep 2008 |
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| No. 148 - Routine Operations |
Report for Period 7 September to 13 September 2008 Nominal Venus Express mission operations were conducted during the reporting period. |
| Date: 17 Sep 2008 |
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