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Europe Goes to the Venus - The Journey of Venus Express

Fabrega, J.; Schirmann, T.; McCoy, D. +1 more

On 9th November 2005, a Russian Soyuz-Fregat launcher boosted Venus Express into space from the Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft reached its final destination 5 months later, on 11th April 2006, after a journey of 440 millions of kilometres in the solar system. It fired its main engine during 49 minutes and slowed down to be capt…

On the Hipparcos Link to the ICRF derived from VLA and MERLIN radio astrometry

Walter, H. G.; Hering, R.

Positions and proper motions obtained from observations by the very large array (VLA) and the multi-element radio-linked interferometer network (MERLIN) are used to establish the link of the Hipparcos Celestial Reference Frame (HCRF) to the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF). The VLA and MERLIN data are apparently the latest ones publi…

MIMS—A relational database of imagery on Mars

Vaz, D.; Ivo Alves, E.

On wave modes, structures and turbulence in space plasmas: Cluster results

Belmont, G.; Sahraoui, F.; Rezeau, L. +2 more

Magnetic turbulence is known to play a key role in magnetospheric physics since it is involved in all the microphysical processes: energy cascade and dissipation, structure formation, mass transport and particles acceleration, magnetic reconnection, etc. Identifying the experimental properties of turbulence has been therefore one of the major goal…

The statistical characteristics of the tailward flows in the near-Earth region explored by TC1

Shen, Chao; Wang, Ji-Ye; Zhang, Ling-Qian +3 more

During quiet time and substorm process, tailward flow often explored in the near-Earth magnetotail by TC-1 satellite. The tailward flow is most strong near the equator, and stronger in the dusk-side and dawn-side than that in the night-side. The tailward flow tends to move from the dusk-side and dawn-side to the night-side, and becomes stronger wh…

Planetary science: Hyperion the sponge

Webb, Richard

The distribution characteristics of the flows in the near-Earth region: TC-1 observational results

Shen, Chao; Zhang, LingQian; Liu, ZhenXing +4 more

TC-1 observational results clearly indicate that the velocity of the flows in the near-Earth region is dependent on the satellite location. The flow speed decreases while satellite moves close to the Earth. The plasma flow in the region close to the Earth tends to drift into the midnight region from the dawn and dusk region while the flow in the r…

Photometric observations and frequency analysis of the δ Scuti NT Hya

Gavras, P.; Sinachopoulos, D.

NT Hya is a δ Scuti star discovered by Hipparcos. About 2200 observations were acquired with the 30 inch SAAO telescope in the nights of February 2,3 and 4, 2006 in V filter. These data show four pulsation frequencies of the star. Two of them may form a doublet separated by 0.64 c/d (Δf/f = 9%) with similar amplitudes. The period listed in the Hip…

Exploring Venus: Major scientific issues and directions

Esposito, Larry W.; Stofan, Ellen R.; Cravens, Thomas E.

Venus has been a prime target of space exploration since the launch of Venera-1 in 1961. In 1962, Mariner 2 determined that the surface of Venus is hot, providing the first confirmation of its immense greenhouse effect. Venus has now been visited by numerous flybys, orbiters, atmospheric probes, landers, and balloons! Magellan's radar pierced the …

A technique to determine the mean molecular mass of a planetary atmosphere using pressure and temperature measurements made by an entry probe: Demonstration using Huygens data

Withers, P.

It is possible to determine the mean molecular mass of a planetary atmosphere using pressure and temperature measurements made by an entry probe descending at terminal velocity. The descent trajectory of an entry probe can be determined from pressure, temperature, and mean molecular mass data. This technique offers redundancy for large entry probe…