ESA - Venus Express

[yurkin]

I must say there’s an awful lot of buzz on this board for a low cost orbiter to Venus. Not that I’m complaining of course. I think it’s a great mission, particularly what we might learn from its PFS instrument, and of course some nice picture of clouds.

 

[shoogerbrugge]

cheers kane

 

[chris_in_space]

Just saw an Antonov An-124 on the ESA images. It seems that the Venus Express was moved to Baikonur in this aicraft. What I'm disturbed by is that the space industry takes tons of precautions when buiding, testing, launching spacecrafts/rockets but on the other side it ships its satellites (over 100M€ worth) with normal aircrafts. Is it only me or is there really a disproportion between the safety measures taken during the construction phase and those taken during transport? I mean if the space industry can trust airplane manufacturers that they have done their job correctly when designing the plane so it won't crash (too often) why can't it thrust itself that it can also do its job correctly on its spacecrafts/rockets without having do verify 3 times the torque of each single bolt. I am sure that if the space industry would give up some of its (in my opinion unnecessary) "safety" procedures space transportation would get much cheaper...<br />

 

[n_kitson]

I wouldn't worry too much. The spacecraft is far safer on the plane than on, for example, a truck <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[najab]

><i>I am sure that if the space industry would give up some of its (in my opinion unnecessary) "safety" procedures space transportation would get much cheaper... </i><p>If a worker on an airplane assembly line does a poor job you get a smouldering pile of wreckage in a cornfield somewhere. Grab all the bits and pieces, take them to a warehouse, get a few experts in and they say "Look, here's what's wrong, they did a poor job on this part." The FAA/CAA issues a directive and they check all the other planes and fix them.<p>Your space probe goes out to Mars, and the last thing you hear from it is a blip of telemetry right before entry. You've got no debris to analyse and you <b>one and only</b> Mars mission is bust.<p>The moral - sometimes it <b>IS</b> rocket science.</p></p></p>

 

[chris_in_space]

That was not exactely my point. You take the two too much apart while there are some analogies to show my point.<br /><br />For example, a normal plane has to go to general revision every couple of years where it is taken apart and rebuilt. The workers who take it apart and rebuild the plane don't have to verify 3 times the torque of every bolt. It is considered that they are well trained workers and that they do their job correctly. If the workers wouldn't do their job correctly the plane would be likely to crash. But the company that will transport its satellite with this plane thinks that this risk is small enough to actually do the transport. In other words it trusts the workers that did the maintainance that they did their job correctly. In the same time when it come to its own workers (at least equally well trained) the company that builds the satellite will ask them to verify 3 times the torque of each bolt. So it seems like the satellite building company trusts the aircraft workers while it doesn't trust its own workers.<br /><br />So I'm not talking about design errors which will be detected by a board of experts and which can be corrected afterwards by a special directive. I am talking about human errors during construction/maintainance. I mean for me it is as likely for a airplane maintainance worker to do an error as it is for a satellite/rocket manufacturing worker to do an error, and both errors could have fatal consequences for the satellite (for the first during the transport on the plane and for the second during the runtime of the satellite/rocket). In the same time one has much tighter safety procedures than the other. So why doesn't the space industry trust their workers as they trust those of the airplane industry which are maintaining the planes on which they will fly their satellites around?<br /><br />For me its a bit contradictory, since the whole thing is as good as its weakest link. If the weakest link is safe enough (there havn't been plane cra

 

[flynn]

<b>Testing Upper Composite - Third Stage Electrical Connections</b><br /><i>20 Oct 2005 13:10</i><br /><br />Today, Thursday 20 October 2005, there were no on-line activities performed on the Venus Express Spacecraft. The day was spent by performing electrical verifications between the launcher's third stage and the upper composite which has been mechanically mated yesterday. <br /><br /><br />Spacecraft activities were, as yesterday, limited to monitoring fuel and oxidiser tank pressures and under-fairing temperatures. <br /><br />Final adjustments have been made to countdown procedures in close cooperation with the Russian launch authorities on one side and the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) on the other side. All procedures and test sequences required for the activities taking place once the launcher is installed on the pad, and especially for the final countdown on 26 October, are now available. <br /><br />Tomorrow, Friday 21 October 2005, will be a very active and long day, with the launcher final integration, followed by flight arming of the spacecraft on-board batteries, and eventually the Russian State Commission to authorise launcher roll-out to the pad.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[flynn]

Revised Schedule. Launch Delay<br /><br /><b>Venus Express launch delayed</b><br /><br /><i>21 October 2005</i><br />During the final preparations for the launch of the European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft by a Soyuz-Fregat launcher, contamination was detected inside the launcher’s fairing.<br /> <br />Starsem and ESA have therefore decided to carry out additional checks, which will postpone the originally scheduled launch date of Wednesday, 26 October by several days. <br />A new launch date will be announced shortly. <br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Most definitely! <br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[n_kitson]

Back on track...<br /><font color="yellow"><br />Venus spacecraft 'in good shape' <br /> <br />Europe's first mission to Venus should be ready for lift-off by the end of the week, officials have confirmed. <br />Wednesday's planned launch was delayed when contamination was found inside the Russian made rocket. <br /><br />Inspections show the spacecraft is in good condition and should be cleaned up within days, the European Space Agency (Esa) said. <br /><br />A new launch date has yet to be set for the probe, which will blast off aboard a Russian rocket from Baikonur. <br /><br />The launch was postponed on Friday when particles of contaminating material were discovered inside the rocket fairing. <br /><br />The spacecraft had to be removed from the rocket and transported back into assembly buildings at the Kazakhstan spaceport. <br /><br />Engineers began inspecting the damage on Monday and found that bits of the insulating material that protects the spacecraft inside the upper stage of the rocket had worked loose. <br /><br />Esa spokesman, Franco Bonacina, said the contaminating material appeared to be confined to relatively large pieces that can be easily spotted and removed. <br /><br />"It doesn't look like an enormous amount of material," he told the BBC News website. "It's relatively good news compared with what we knew on Saturday." <br /><br />Once the clean-up operation is complete, the spacecraft, sitting on the top part of its rocket, will be moved out to the launch pad. <br /><br />Esa is confident the probe will take off well within the launch window, which closes on 24 November this year. <br /><br />The spacecraft will carry out the first global investigation of Venus' atmosphere, to shed light on how the planet evolved its harsh climate. <br /><br />Composed chiefly of carbon dioxide, Venus' atmosphere generates intense greenhouse warming, whereby trapped solar radiation heats the surface of the planet to an average temperature of 467 Celsius. <br /><br />Experts think Venus co</font>

 

[flynn]

<b>Venus Express preliminary investigations bring encouraging news</b><br /><br /><i>25 October 2005</i><br />Following the announcement of the Venus Express launch delay due to particulate contamination found in the launcher fairing where the spacecraft was installed, ESA staff and industry teams have started an inspection of the spacecraft. This recovery ‘investigation procedure’ has so far revealed a spacecraft in good status.<br /> <br />Having been removed from the Soyuz rocket, the upper composite, consisting of the Venus Express spacecraft attached to the Fregat upper stage and all housed in the rocket fairing, was transported to the Baikonur cosmodrome’s Upper Composite Integration Facility in the early morning of Sunday 23 October. On Monday 24 October the fairing was removed and engineers started the inspection to assess the status of the spacecraft. <br /><br />Full story <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[najab]

*bump*

 

[flynn]

I don't think we have a dedicated Venus Express thread (sorry if I've missed someones) so here goes.<br /><br />To start here is the ESA Portal mission factsheet.<br /><br /><b>Venus Express factsheet</b><br /><br /> <br /><b>Fast track to Venus</b><br /> <br /><b>Name</b> The name Venus Express comes from the short time to define, prepare, and launch the mission. It will take less than three years from the approval to the launch of the mission. To do this, ESA reused the same design as the Mars Express mission and the same industrial teams that worked on that mission. <br /> <br /><b>Description</b> Venus Express will study our nearest planetary neighbour. It will be built around the design of Mars Express, making it quicker and cheaper to develop. In particular, Venus Express will study the Venusian atmosphere and clouds in unprecedented detail and accuracy. <br /> <br /> <br /><b>Launch</b> October 2005 (Soyuz-Fregat from Baikonur, Kazakhstan). <br /> <br /> <br /><b>Status</b> In development.<br /> <br /> <br /><b>Journey</b> The launcher will place the spacecraft into a transfer orbit to Venus. It will travel through space for 153 days and once it is captured by Venusian gravity, it will take five days to manoeuvre into its operational orbit. <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

So now I'll post the update in the correct place. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br /><br />Good news! The contamination issue has been resolved. The spacecraft is set to launch a week from Wednesday (November 9) aboard a Soyuz-Fregat booster. It will be the second European probe to orbit another planet, and the first European probe to orbit Venus. The last probe to visit Venus was Magellan, a Voyager-derived probe that produced the first good global maps of the Venusian surface using its large high-gain antenna as a radar instrument. Magellan was launched by the Space Shuttle in 1989 and was deliberately deorbited as an end-of-mission experiment to study the upper reaches of Venus' atmosphere in 1994. There has been no mission to Venus since then, so Venus Express is going to be a very exciting mission to watch. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[giofx]

ESA press release:<br /><br /><b>Venus Express launch set for 9 November</b><br /><br />3 November 2005<br /><br />In agreement with the European Space Agency, Starsem and its Russian partners have set the launch date for the Venus Express spacecraft. Launch is now scheduled for Wednesday, 9 November 2005, at 03:33 GMT (4:33 CET).

 

[flynn]

A bit more on the above.<br /><br /><b>New Launch Date for Venus Express</b><br /><i>03 Nov 2005 11:34</i><br /><br />On Monday 31 October, following a final cleaning and inspection of the Venus Express Spacecraft, the payload fairing of the Soyuz launch vehicle was installed again after it had been removed just a week before after the discovery of contaminants. <br /><br /><br />The fairing integration was completed smoothly, and on Tuesday 1 November, the upper composite, consisting of the Venus Express spacecraft, the Fregat upper stage and the fairing, was prepared for the transport to the MIK-40 launcher integration facility. <br /><br />On 2 November, very early in the morning, the upper composite arrived in the MIK-40 launcher integration building after its overnight transfer from the MIK-112 building. During the day the upper composite was mechanically mated with the Block I, the third stage of the Soyuz launch vehicle. Electrical testing of the links between the launcher's third stage and the Fregat upper stage is on-going today. <br /><br />Spacecraft online activities are limited to monitoring of the pressure inside the two propellant tanks, and monitoring of the air temperature under the payload fairing, in order to guarantee proper environmental conditions for the spacecraft are maintained throughout the launcher assembly operations. <br /><br />The first and second stages of the Soyuz launcher (the boosters and the core stage respectively) have already been pre-assembled and are awaiting the integration with the composite of the upper composite and third stage.<br /><br /><br /><br /><i>Pic: Inspection of the fairing in the MIK-112 building</i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[flynn]

<b>Final Integration</b><br /><i>5 Nov 2005 11:31</i><br /><br />On Friday 4 November the final integration of the Soyuz launch vehicle with the Venus Express Spacecraft atop has taken place in the MIK-40 integration building. The launch vehicle and its passenger are now fully assembled and preparations are ongoing for the rollout to the launch pad planned for Saturday 5 November at 07:30 in the morning local time (01:30 UT). <br /><br />Full Story <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[flynn]

<b>Roll Out to Launch Pad</b><br /><i>05 Nov 2005 18:55</i><br /><br />The rollout of the Soyuz launcher carrying the Venus Express Spacecraft has taken place at launch pad number 6 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Saturday 5 November 2005 starting at 01:30 UT (07:30 local time), just half an hour before sunrise. <br /><br /><br />Final preparations of the activity started in the very early morning hours, and included the disconnection of the umbilical connector from the rocket, which had to be completed by 06:00 local time (00:00 UT). <br /><br />This connection had been used by the Spacecraft team to monitor the status of the Venus Express throughout the night after yesterday's final arming of its onboard batteries. <br /><br />Full Story with some great pics. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

This is getting exciting now, only three days 'til launch!

 

[flynn]

<b>Venus Express team in launch countdown</b><br /><br /><i>7 November 2005</i><br />At 07:00 CET Monday, the Venus Express mission clock began ticking down to Wednesday's launch. The excitement at ESOC and particularly in the Main Control Room is palpable as launch preparations get under way.<br /> <br />Throughout Monday, the Mission Control Team (MCT) ran through final checks and verifications. This is no simulation: the communications loop is live; the tracking stations are on net, real telemetry is flowing from the spacecraft and, at ESOC, adrenalin is starting to pump. <br /> <br />"We are already receiving live telemetry from the spacecraft in Baikonur on top of the Soyuz launcher via an umbilical cable plugged into launch control and feeding back to ESOC," said Paolo Ferri, Flight Operations Director for Venus Express, manning a work station in the Main Control Room (MCR) at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.<br /><br />Full Story <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[flynn]

<b>Venus Express launch dress rehearsal</b><br /><br /><i>7 November 2005</i><br />The launch dress rehearsal for ESA's Venus Express mission took place succesfully at Baikonur Cosmodrome earlier today.<br /> <br />At 04:00 CET this morning, control of the Venus Express spacecraft was handed to the 'countdown' team for the rehearsal. <br />The simulated lift-off time was set to 18:34 local time (13:34 CET), and the spacecraft preparation activities commenced right away with the confirmation of the spacecraft configuration as achieved during yesterday's pre-launch sequence. <br /><br />After this check, the final countdown sequence (launch sequence) was started and the spacecraft was fully configured for launch, but still fed by ground power, at around 12:30 (07:30 CET). <br /><br />In parallel with the spacecraft activities, preparations of the Fregat upper stage and the network countdown at ESOC were also progressing according to the nominal timeline. <br /><br /> Full Story <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

That is a beautiful picture, flynn. Thanks for sharing. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> The service gantries look almost luminous as their interior lights reflect off of the sides of the Soyuz-Fregat. May she fly bold and true! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[n_kitson]

Fantastic news. Will they be broadcasting the launch live?

 

[flynn]

<font color="red">Calli</font><br /><br />Agreed. As soon as I saw that pic I knew I had to post it, pretty isn't she.<br /><br /><font color="red">N_Kitson</font><br /><br />I expect ESAPortal will have a webcast of launch, keep an eye out for it here. <br /><br />1 Day 8 Hours to launch. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Excitingly waiting for the great launch.Succesful launch is long over due.