 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Europe Places Spacecraft In Orbit About Venus
Paris (AFP) Apr 11, 2006 A European space probe went into orbit around Venus on Tuesday, mission controllers said, after a 400-million-kilometre (250-million-mile trip) to peer into its toxic atmosphere and swirling clouds. The Venus Express probe slowed down and locked into Venus's gravitational field at 10:08 am (0808 GMT), said controllers at the European Space Agency's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. "A fantastic moment. We are finally around Venus," said the Canadian head of the project, Don McCoy, in a video broadcast from the headquarters of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Paris. Venus Express -- the first European probe to Venus -- is due to spend 486 Earth days -- or just two Venusian days -- studying its hot, dense atmosphere, which is choked with 96-percent carbon dioxide. At some 120 million kilometres from Earth, the craft fired its main engine for 51 minutes to help reduce its spped of 29,000 kilometres per hour and slip into Venus's gravitational pull. It will first spend nine days ranging between 400 and 350,000 kilometres (250 and 217,000 miles) from the planet before going into regular orbit. Venus Express -- a virtual copy of the Mars Express now orbiting the Red Planet -- carries seven powerful instruments to probe the thick swirl of clouds covering Venus, testing for geological information and evidence of volcanic activity. It is also due to examine the 400 kilometre-per-hour winds that rage in the skies 60 kilometres above the planet's surface, and whose causes are unknown. Venus is Earth's closest neighbour and regarded by astronomers as its twin. The two are similar sizes and both composed of rocks. But Venus is much hotter, with ground temperatures reaching 460 degrees Celsius (860 Fahrenheit). The 220-million-euro (264-million-dollar) Venus Express was built by the European satellite company EADS Astrium and launched on November 9, 2005, by from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan. The mission would help to "better understand, better predict, better manage the Earth and its endowment for the benefits of all citizens of the world", said ESA Director general Jean-Jacques Dordain. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Venust At ESA Venus Express News and Venusian Science
Decade-Long Isolation Of Venus To End At Last
Paris (AFP) Apr 10, 2006For more than 11 years, Earth's closest neighbour has been unexplored, left alone to silently circle the Sun, remaining a planet as cryptic as it is hostile. With luck, this will change on Tuesday when a European probe arrives at Venus after a 400-million-kilometre (250-million-mile) trip. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
