A Day in the Life of the Venus Express – Video

It may be the closest planet to Earth, but Venus is as much of an enigma as it was in ancient times. The planet is literally shrouded in secrecy, well, a thick layer of carbon dioxide, sulfuric acid and other nasty chemicals, making observations hard.

Still, that's what the European Space Agency's Venus Express is for, the probe has been studying the Venusian atmosphere for almost seven years.

Its mission is to observe atmospheric changes over a long period of time so it spends its days circling around Venus on a polar orbit.

The hope is that analysis of the conditions on Venus will provide valuable data for understanding our own climate and what worlds outside of the solar system may be like.

The short video takes you through a day in the life of the Venus Express. The video starts at 66,000 km, 41,000 miles above Venus and the probe swoops down to as little as 250 km, 155 miles.