Venus Express has already traveled almost once around the globe, and it is then heading out towards the trajectory on to Venus. Now the Venus Express spacecraft must properly initialize its onboard systems. This is supposed to happen automatically. Most notably it must switch on its onboard transmitter. Secondly, it has to prime the reaction control system, to give it maneuvering capability. Thirdly, it has to deploy the solar arrays to give us power to recharge our batteries. |
We believe this instrumentation set will significantly enhance our capabilities at Venus compared to the most recent mission. We are looking forward to it! |