Venus Express Italian Day on 4 October

N° 55-2004 - Paris, 30 September 2004


Venus Express Italian Day on 4 October


To mark completion of the assembly of the Venus Express spacecraft, Alenia
Spazio is holding a Venus Express Day on 4 October in Turin, Italy, in
cooperation with Astrium SAS and the European Space Agency.

Venus Express is the first European mission to this, the second planet in
the Solar System. Often referred to as 'Earth's twin', Venus holds many
mysteries that intrigue scientists.
The main question is why a planet similar to Earth in size, mass and
composition could have evolved so differently over the course of the last
four thousand million years.

Venus Express will make the first multispectral global examination of the
atmosphere of Venus. Completely different from the one around Earth, the
Venusian atmosphere appears to be hot and dense. Venus Express will
investigate the choking 'greenhouse' effect, the hurricane-force winds that
encircle the planet, and its mysteriously weak magnetic field.

Completion of assembly of the Venus Express spacecraft, including
integration and testing of the flight equipment and experiments, is an
important milestone. Scheduled for launch on 26 October 2005, Venus Express
is currently being made ready for shipment to Astrium, ESA's prime
contractor, in Toulouse, France in mid-October this year. There, further
tests to prove the spacecraft's flight readiness will take place.

The programme of the event is as follows:

10:30 Welcoming addresses

L.M. Quaglino, Director of Alenia Spazio Infrastructures and Scientific
Satellites
M. Coradini, ESA Solar System Missions Coordinator

10:45 ESA presentations
The Venus Express project, D. McCoy, ESA Project Manager for Venus Express
The Scientific Mission, H. Svedhem, ESA Project Scientist for Venus Express

11:30 Alenia Spazio: Role and activities on Venus Express
G. Finocchiaro and M. Patroncini, Alenia Spazio Project Management for Venus
Express

The presentations will be followed by a visit to the Venus Express Hardware
and a Q & A session. The programme will be concluded with a buffet lunch at
13:00.

The event takes place on Monday, 4 October, at 10:15 hours at the premises
of Alenia Spazio, C.so Marche 41, Torino, Italy. Members of the media who
would like to attend are asked to contact :

Viviana Panaccia
Alenia Spazio Press Office
Tel: +39 0641514130
E-Mail:

Franco Perna
Alenia Spazio Press Office
Tel: +39 0641512432
E-mail: enia Spazio

More information about Venus Express can be found at:
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/spk.html

For further information please contact:

ESA Media Relations Division
Tel : +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax : +33(0)1.53.69.7690


--
---------------------------

Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info