ESA News
http://www.esa.int

19 August 2005

Next stop Venus!

Follow the progress of Venus Express, ESA's next planetary mission to
Earth's mysterious sister planet, on a new ESA web site,
www.esa.int/venus

Due for launch in October 2005, this mission will provide the most
comprehensive study ever of the Venusian atmosphere.

It will dig into mysteries such as the unexplained fast atmospheric
rotation in four days around the planet and the polar vortices.

It will study the global thermal balance and the role of the strongest
'greenhouse effect' found in the Solar System, as well as the structure
and dynamics of the clouds and the mysterious ultraviolet markings
detected above the cloud cover.

Venus is similar to Earth in terms of size and mass, but its surface
temperature is about 460 degrees Celsius. This is hot enough to melt
lead! The Venusian atmosphere is mainly made up of carbon dioxide, a
'greenhouse gas'. On Earth, carbon dioxide makes up only a tiny fraction
of the atmosphere.

Why is there so much carbon dioxide in the Venusian atmosphere? What
made Venus evolve so differently from Earth? Is Venus a mirror that
reflects how the Earth will be if global warming continues at its
current speed?

"Good questions. That is precisely one of the things we want to find
out," says Hakan Svedhem, Project Scientist for Venus Express.

"Venus will help us understand what happens when the greenhouse effect
is really extreme. However, it's not a good example of what will happen
to Earth due to human activities. Life on Earth would disappear due to
the extreme temperatures much before reaching even half of the
concentrations of carbon dioxide on Venus!" said Svedhem.

Venus Express arrived at its launch site at the Baikonur cosmodrome,
Kazakhstan, on 7 August. From now until the end of August, ESA and the
industrial teams who built Venus Express will check again the integrity
of all spacecraft systems and their functionality after the journey.
Everything is on track for the launch of the European Space Agency's
next planetary mission.

More about ...

* Looking at Venus
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus_Express/index.html
* Venus Express factsheet
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM2EE1A6BD_index_0.html
* Venus Express in-depth
http://sci.esa.int/venusexpress

Related articles

* No shortage of mysteries on Venus
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/ESAHRH7708D_Expanding_0.html
* Greenhouse effects ... also on other planets
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSY02A6BD_Protecting_0.html
* First Mars, then Venus!
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM2V8T1VED_exploring_0.html

Related links

* Starsem -- the Soyuz
http://www.starsem.com/
* ESA Mission Operations

http://www.esa.int/spacecraftops/ESO...551445449.html

IMAGE CAPTIONS:

[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMYZ1908BE_index_1.html]
Artist's impression of Venus Express. Credits: ESA

[Image 2:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMYZ1908BE...html#subhead1]
This image of Venus is a mosaic of several images acquired by the NASA
Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974. [NOTE: The image is actually from the
Pioneer Venus Orbiter spacecraft taken on 26 Feb. 1979 - A.Y.] It shows
the thick cloud coverage that prevents optical observation of the
surface of Venus. Only through radar mapping is the surface revealed.
Credits: NASA

[Image 3:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMYZ1908BE...html#subhead2]
ESA's Venus Express, being packed ready to leave INTESPACE, Toulouse,
for its launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It is shown with high-gain
antenna wrapped and solar arrays folded. Credits: ESA - S. CORVAJA