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Article: Venus Express on its way
- Article from:
- Interavia
- Article date:
- January 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Aerospace Media Publishing Winter 2005. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The European spacecraft Venus Express has been successfully placed into a trajectory that will take it on its journey from the Earth towards its destination of the planet Venus, which it will reach next April. A virtual twin sister of the Mars Express spacecraft which has been orbiting the Red Planet since December 2003, Venus Express is the second planet-bound probe to be launched by the European Space Agency.
Venus Express will eventually manoeuvre itself into orbit around Venus in order to perform a detailed study of the structure, chemistry and dynamics of the planet's atmosphere, which is characterised by extremely high temperatures, very high atmospheric pressure, a huge greenhouse ...