Venus Express |
Venus Express |
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#201
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![]() Interplanetary Dumpster Diver ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 ![]() |
If all goes well, Venus Express will be a major topic for discussion in this forum a year from now. Does anyone know how good the surface coverage will be from VIRTIS and VMC? My understanding is that VIRTIS will obtain low resolution multispectral maps, and that VMC will, in addition to cloud monitoring, have one channel that can see the surface, but I don't know at what resolution or at what quality. It will be nice to have some non-radar images of Venus' surface besides the Venera snapshots and the shadowy images from Earth and Galileo's NIMS.
Ted -------------------- |
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#202
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![]() Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 247 Joined: 17-February 07 From: ESAC, cerca Madrid, Spain. Member No.: 1743 ![]() |
PFS Still Non-Operational
The PFS scanner was commanded during recent momentum dumps (wheel off-loadings). Reaction wheels speed up in order to capture unwanted spacecraft momentum and maintain pointing; when the wheels are slowed back down to their zero level (generally once a day), thrusters are fired to hold the spacecraft steady. It was hoped that the physical shock of the thruster firings, performed at the same time the scanner was commanded to move, might jog the scanner lose. However, kicking the scanner in this way didn't work. No more tests are planned, that I'm aware of. The orbit correction maneuvers, which I thought might be tried, turn out to be smaller than the wheel off-loadings. So trying them is not thought likely to help. So, we'll have to see if the PFS team can come up with another Hail Mary pass, or if this is the end. -------------------- --
cndwrld@yahoo.com |
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#203
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![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 1281 Joined: 18-December 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 124 ![]() |
Thanks for the update, though I wish the news was better. I guess the problem with moving parts is that they sometimes aren't moving parts.....
So, we'll have to see if the PFS team can come up with another Hail Mary pass, or if this is the end. Are ESA missions allowed to use American football sports idioms? But if they come up with a long shot that works, I would gladly allow them to use whatever idioms they deem necessary.... ![]() -------------------- Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!" Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test |
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