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Venus Express satellite (Picture: ESA)
Venus Express (European Space Agency, ESA) is the first European mission to Venus. It was launched on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan early on 9 November 2005 (Central European time). The spacecraft was injected into orbit around Venus on 11 April 2006 after a five-month journey and has begun to study the space plasma and the thick atmosphere of the planet. The Swedish Insitute of Space Physics (IRF) has provided one of the seven instruments on the spacecraft. IRF's instrument ASPERA-4 will study how the solar wind affects the upper atmosphere of Venus. ASPERA-4 comprises five sensors to measure electrons, ions, and energetic neutral atoms (ENA). It will make ENA measurements in the low energy range (100 eV-10 keV).
NB: For latest news see ESA's web page
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Launch: |
Wednesday 9 November 2005, 4.33 CET (3.33 GMT) |
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Destination: |
Venus |
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IRF instrument: |
ASPERA-4, Energetic Neutral Atoms Analyser (PI: Prof. Stas Barabash) |
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Contact: |
Prof. Stas Barabash, project leader, stas.barabash*irf.se, tel. +46-980-79122 |
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Satellite homepage: |
