Venus Express |
Venus Express |
Oct 17 2005, 08:25 PM
Post
#46
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
Fairing Installation
Today, Monday 17 October 2005, the payload fairing has been successfully installed on the nose block (composite of Fregat Upper Stage and Venus Express spacecraft). The first part of the activity was the tilting of the nose block from vertical to horizontal position. With both the spacecraft and the Upper Stage being fully fuelled the activity is classified as hazardous, and was hence conducted with the minimum number of personnel present in the clean room. 8 days... The update including some images of the operation : http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/in...fobjectid=38153 |
|
|
Oct 19 2005, 10:30 PM
Post
#47
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1636 Joined: 9-May 05 From: Lima, Peru Member No.: 385 |
New updates about Venus Express. More details about the magnetometer instrument.
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/venus-05g.html Rodolfo |
|
|
Oct 21 2005, 11:03 AM
Post
#48
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
New ESA update : summary of the launch, cruise and arrival phases.
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM0U7R01FE_index_0.html Rakhir |
|
|
Oct 21 2005, 06:31 PM
Post
#49
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 61 Joined: 17-September 05 From: Sweden Member No.: 499 |
|
|
|
Oct 25 2005, 11:33 AM
Post
#50
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
Venus Express preliminary investigations bring encouraging news.
"On Monday 24 October the fairing was removed and engineers started the inspection to assess the status of the spacecraft. The scenario is so far very encouraging, as only fairly large particles, pieces of the insulating material initially covering the launcher’s Fregat upper stage, have been found on the body of the spacecraft. The ESA Project team is confident that Venus Express will be launched well within the launch window, which closes on 24 November this year." http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM2714J2FE_index_0.html Rakhir |
|
|
Oct 26 2005, 01:27 PM
Post
#51
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 531 Joined: 24-August 05 Member No.: 471 |
Spaceflightnow Mission Status Center: Venus Express
http://spaceflightnow.com/venusexpress/status.html --- Although a new launch date has not been set, liftoff is expected to be targeted for sometime between November 6 and 9. --- -------------------- - blue_scape / Nico -
|
|
|
Oct 31 2005, 05:21 PM
Post
#52
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
Russian space officials Monday set a Nov. 9 blastoff.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ap_05...usexp_updt.html Rakhir |
|
|
Oct 31 2005, 09:23 PM
Post
#53
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1636 Joined: 9-May 05 From: Lima, Peru Member No.: 385 |
Strange news.
The postpone of the launch was due to contamination problem in the faring. Now, according to the news from space.com : Russian space officials Monday set a Nov. 9 blastoff for a European probe to explore Venus after its earlier launch was postponed because of a booster rocket problem. Is it of another story? Rodolfo |
|
|
Oct 31 2005, 10:24 PM
Post
#54
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
QUOTE (RNeuhaus @ Oct 31 2005, 11:23 PM) Strange news. The postpone of the launch was due to contamination problem in the faring. Now, according to the news from space.com : Russian space officials Monday set a Nov. 9 blastoff for a European probe to explore Venus after its earlier launch was postponed because of a booster rocket problem. Is it of another story? Rodolfo By "booster rocket", they are talking about the launch vehicle. The fairing whose thermal insulation contaminated VE is part of the booster rocket. Rakhir |
|
|
Nov 5 2005, 04:42 PM
Post
#55
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
|
|
|
Nov 6 2005, 11:24 PM
Post
#56
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
Pre-launch sequence was executed.
2 days... http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/in...fobjectid=38218 Rakhir |
|
|
Guest_paulanderson_* |
Nov 7 2005, 01:35 AM
Post
#57
|
Guests |
Interesting article:
'Venus Mission May Hold Surprises For Scientists And Public, Says CU Prof' http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2005/421.html |
|
|
Nov 7 2005, 03:04 AM
Post
#58
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 350 Joined: 20-June 04 From: Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. Member No.: 86 |
If Venus is almost exactly like Earth, but much hotter, and Mars is quite a lot like Earth, but much cooler, and Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, and Mars is further away from the sun than Earth, then hmm, what could it be I wonder...
I'm looking forward to this mission myself.. |
|
|
Nov 7 2005, 03:41 PM
Post
#59
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
QUOTE (mike @ Nov 6 2005, 08:04 PM) If Venus is almost exactly like Earth, but much hotter, and Mars is quite a lot like Earth, but much cooler, and Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, and Mars is further away from the sun than Earth, then hmm, what could it be I wonder... I'm looking forward to this mission myself.. Mars is only about 11% the mass of the Earth, and the bulk composition is quite different, so the differences abound. Given that and other differences that began with formation, I'd say differences should be expected as the rule and similarities seen as more surprising. Venus has similar mass and bulk composition, but the essential cause-of-it-all difference maker may be the slow rotation. Because of that, no magnetic field. Because of that, the upper atmosphere is pounded by solar wind. Because of that, H2O is broken up and lost. Because of that, CO2 fills the atmosphere AND lighter rock (granite) is not formed. Because of the CO2, the stifling heat. Because of the lack of granite and the heat, entirely different crustal cycling regimes. It's unclear if that is really the chain of causality, and certainly more exploration is needed, but it would be stirring if such a small matter led to such a huge difference. And it would still be unclear why the rotation is so slow; there is a chicken-and-egg question about whether or not drag in the massive atmosphere may have controlled the rotation rate. The other external factor that may have contributed is the absence of a large satellite. |
|
|
Nov 7 2005, 03:54 PM
Post
#60
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1636 Joined: 9-May 05 From: Lima, Peru Member No.: 385 |
Besides, the other intrigating thing is that Venus sluggishly rotates on its axis once every 243 Earth days, while it orbits the Sun every 225 days - its day is longer than its year!
On the other hand, Venus rotates retrograde, or "backwards," spinning in the opposite direction of its orbit around the Sun. From its surface, the Sun would seem to rise in the west and set in the east. The other odd thing is that its Equatorial Inclination to Orbit is 177.3 degrees. By comparison, it is: 7.56 x Earth. That is its north pole is almost pointing to the south pole. These are at least one of the oddies things that I would like to understand: Why does the day is longer than a year? Why the planet rotates on backwards? Rodolfo |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 27th June 2024 - 04:14 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |