14 DAY TRIAL // After a 400-million-kilometre journey that lasted five months, Venus Express will reach its destination on 11 April. The mission controllers at the European Space Agency's Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, are making intensive preparations for orbit insertion.
The spacecraft will reach Venus with a velocity of 29 000 km/h and will have to slow down by 15 percent. This will allow it to be captured by Venus' gravitational field and to enter orbit. In order to do this the craft's engines will be telecomanded from Earth to fire at the right time.
The main engine will have to fire for 50 minutes consuming almost all the remaining propellant and the solar panels will be positioned in such a way to reduce the possibility of their deterioration during the deceleration maneuver.
Then, in the following days, a series of additional burns will allow the spacecraft to get into a lower, 24-hour orbit. It is expected that Venuss Express will reach the final orbit in early May.
The spacecraft will perform a detailed study of the structure, chemistry and dynamics of the planet's atmosphere, which is characterized by extremely high temperatures and a very high atmospheric pressure due a run-away greenhouse effect.
Photo Credits: ESA