HR: 08:00h
AN: P41B-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Venus Express
AU: * Svedhem, H
EM: H.Svedhem@esa.int
AF: ESA/ESTEC, PB 299, Noordwijk, 2200AG, Netherlands
AU: Witasse, O
EM: Olivier .Witasse@esa.int
AF: ESA/ESTEC, PB 299, Noordwijk, 2200AG, Netherlands
AB: Venus Express has now orbited Venus for more than two Venus sidereal days, i.e. 486 Earth days. The spacecraft remains in an excellent condition and more than 1 Terabit of science data has been downlinked to ground. The data returned from the mission during this period has been of extraordinary quality and has already led to new insights in several fields. Venus Express is the first mission fully exploiting the infrared spectral windows in order to map the atmosphere in three dimensions. The observations show a highly dynamic atmosphere, including close-ups of the southern polar double vortex with quickly moving fine structures at several different altitudes. For most of the time the atmosphere can be divided into three distinctly different dynamic regions. - The equatorial region, dominated by a turbulent atmosphere mainly driven by convection, a mid latitude region dominated by a smooth laminar like flow, and the polar region dominated by a cold collar and a vast complex vortex system. The dynamics is mainly studied by the Virtis and VMC instruments. Several minor species at various depths of the atmosphere, including D/H ratios as function of altitude are being characterised by the spectrometer SpicaV and the Virtis high-res spectral channel. The upper atmosphere and plasma environment and interaction between these is studied by the Aspera instrument, the Magnetometer and radio science by occultation. This talk will give a brief report of the status of the mission, a summary of the major findings from the first part of the mission, including during the Messenger fly-by, and an outline of the plans for the future activities.
DE: 0343 Planetary atmospheres (5210, 5405, 5704)
DE: 1060 Planetary geochemistry (5405, 5410, 5704, 5709, 6005, 6008)
DE: 5421 Interactions with particles and fields
DE: 6295 Venus
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting