Venus Express Launches

At 04:33 CET on November 9th 2007, after 3 years of development, ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft was launched at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This mission to Earth’s sister planet, Venus, will use its seven scientific instruments to study the many mysteries surrounding the Venusian atmosphere.

It is hoped that the satellite will shed light on features that are unexplained, despite more than 20 Russian and US probe visits since 1962. These are the fast four-day atmospheric rotation around the planet and the polar vortices. It will also be used to study the global thermal balance and role of the strongest ‘greenhouse effect’ in the solar system. The structure and dynamics of the clouds and ultraviolet markings detected above the cloud cover will also be investigated.

The spacecraft closely resembles its sister spacecraft Mars Express, but has been redesigned to survive the closer proximity to the sun. To this effect, Venus Express has smaller solar arrays, improved thermal control systems so it can sustain a high spacecraft heating and its gallium-arsenide based technology is more tolerant of the higher temperatures. The two antennas will point in opposite directions enabling the spacecraft to communicate with Earth in any orbit configuration and protect these delicate instruments from the sun.

As part of the Venus Express project, CAPTEC’s role was in the development of the Venus Express on-board software, which navigates the satellite. The company performed Independent Software Validation and Verification (ISVV) on behalf of the Toulouse-based prime contractor. CAPTEC was selected for this work as a result of its similar work contributing to the successful outcome of the Mars Express mission.

©2007 CAPTEC
Computer Applied Techniques Ltd