VEX mission phases

Phase Acronym	Phase name	Start Date	End Date	Duration (days)
LEOP	Launch and Early Orbit Phase	09/11/05	11/11/05	3
NECP	Near Earth Commissioning Phase	12/11/05	16/12/05	21
ICP	Interplanetary Cruise Phase	17/12/05	04/04/06	107
VOI	Venus Orbit Insertion	05/04/06	21/04/06	16
VOCP	Venus Orbit Commissioning Phase	22/04/06	03/06/06	42
NMP	Nominal Mission Phase	04/06/06	02/10/07	486
EMP	Extended Mission Phase	03/10/07	on-going

Data sets are split into the nominal mission (launch to end of nominal mission) and the extended mission (from 2/10/2007).

Follow the links below to access the VEX data that are currently available in the PSA archive.

In the following tables the browse option allows you to navigate the directories and download one file at a time. The download option zips the dataset and prepares it for download. The browse option responds rapidly however the download option prepares the file before sending you to the download site. The download response is slow.

Instruments

Below is a listing of the seven instruments on board Venus Express along with a description of each instrument and the data collected.

ASPERA

"Analyser of Space Plasma and Energetic Atoms"
Led by the Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden.
ASPERA studies the interaction between the solar wind and the atmosphere of Venus. It studies how molecules and ions escape the planet by measuring the particles in the solar wind, and the outflowing particles from the planet's atmosphere.

Instrument	CODMAC level	DATA_SET_ID	Data available up to			Data Volume (Gb)
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-ELS-V1.0	Nov-2005 to Oct-2010	browse	download	26
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-IMA-V1.0	Nov-2005 to Oct-2010	browse	download	114
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-NPD-V1.0	Nov-2005 to Oct-2010	browse	download	63
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-NPI-V1.0	Nov-2005 to Oct-2010	browse	download	2.1
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT1-ELS-V1.0	May-2009 to Oct-2010	browse	download	33
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT1-IMA-V1.0	May-2009 to Oct-2010	browse	download	137
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT1-NPD-V1.0	May-2009 to Oct-2010	browse	download	87
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT1-NPI-V1.0	May-2009 to Oct-2010	browse	download	2.1
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT2-ELS-V1.0	1/06/2009 to 31/08/2010	browse	download	25.7
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT2-IMA-V1.0	1/06/2009 to 31/08/2010	browse	download	150
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT2-NPD-V1.0	1/06/2009 to 31/08/2010	browse	download	72
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT2-NPI-V1.0	1/06/2009 to 31/08/2010	browse	download	2
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT3-ELS-V1.0	1/09/2010 to 20/11/2010	browse	download	5.9
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT3-IMA-V1.0	1/09/2010 to 20/11/2010	browse	download	49
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT3-NPD-V1.0	1/09/2010 to 20/11/2010	browse	download	19
ASPERA	2	VEX-V/SW-ASPERA-2-EXT3-NPI-V1.0	1/09/2010 to 20/11/2010	browse	download	0.475

MAG

"Magnetometer"
Led by the Institut für Weltraumforschung (IWF), Graz, Austria.
Venus has no detectable internal magnetic field, and the field that exists around the planet is entirely due to the interaction between the solar wind and the atmosphere. The MAG magnetometer will study this process and will help in understanding the effect it has on Venus' atmosphere, for instance the effect on the atmospheric escape process.This instrument was newly developed for Venus Express, but it reuses sensor designs from the Rosetta lander.

Instrument	CODMAC level	DATA_SET_ID	Data available up to			Data Volume (Gb)
MAG	2	VEX-V/Y-MAG-2-V1.0	Oct-2007	browse	download	36.61
MAG	3	VEX-V/Y-MAG-3-V1.0	Launch to 3/10/2007	browse	download	4.6
MAG	4	VEX-V/Y-MAG-4-V1.0	Oct-2007	browse	download	1.19
MAG	2	VEX-V/Y-MAG-2-EXT1-V1.0	Oct 2007 to May 2009	browse	download	71
MAG	2	VEX-V/Y-MAG-3-EXT1-V1.0	1/10/2007 to 31/05/2009	browse	download	5.2
MAG	2	VEX-V/Y-MAG-3-EXT2-V1.0	1/06/2009 to 22/08/2010	browse	download	5.2
MAG	4	VEX-V/Y-MAG-4-EXT1-V1.0	Oct-2007 to May-2009	browse	download	1.4
MAG	2	VEX-V/Y-MAG-2-EXT2-V1.0	1/06/2009 to 27/12/2009	browse	download	34
MAG	4	VEX-V/Y-MAG-4-EXT2-V1.0	1/06/2009 to 22/08/2010	browse	download	0.5
MAG	2	VEX-V/Y-MAG-2-EXT3-V1.0	22/08/2010 to 30/06.2011	browse	download	42
MAG	4	VEX-V/Y-MAG-4-EXT3-V1.0	22/08/2010 to 30/06.2011	browse	download	0.567

SPICAV

"Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus"
Led by the Service d' Aéronomie du CNRS, Verrières, France; the Institute for Space Aeronomy, Belgium; and the IKI, Russia. SPICAV assists in the analysis of Venus' atmosphere. In particular, it will also look for sulphur compounds and molecular oxygen in the atmosphere. It will determine the density and temperature of the atmosphere at 80-180 kilometers altitude. SPICAV was inherited from Mars Express and new developments were made for SPICAV.

Instrument	CODMAC level	DATA_SET_ID	Data available up to			Data Volume (Gb)
SPICAV	2	VEX-Y/V-SPI-2-IREDR-RAWXCRU/VENUS-V2.0	September 2007	browse	download	4.5
SPICAV	2	VEX-Y/V-SPI-2-UVEDR-RAWXCRU/VENUS-V1.0	Feb-2007	browse	download	2.21
SPICAV	2	VEX-V-SPI-2-UVEDR-RAWXVENUS-EXT1-V1.0	Sep-2007 to May-2009	browse	download	24
SPICAV	2	VEX-V-SPI-2-UVEDR-RAWXVENUS-EXT2-V1.0	May-2009 to June-2010	browse	download	13
SPICAV	2	VEX-V-SPI-2-UVEDR-RAWXVENUS-EXT3-V1.0	22/08/2010 to 8/01/2011	browse	download	2
SPICAV	2	VEX-V-SPI-2-IREDR-RAWXVENUS-EXT1-V2.0	22/09/2007 to 2/05/2009	browse	download	8.5
SPICAV	2	VEX-V-SPI-2-IREDR-RAWXVENUS-EXT2-V2.0	December 2009	browse	download	4

SPICAV/SOIR

"Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus"
Led by the Service d' Aéronomie du CNRS, Verrières, France; the Institute for Space Aeronomy, Belgium; and the IKI, Russia. SPICAV/SOIR assists in the analysis of Venus' atmosphere. In particular, it will also look for sulphur compounds and molecular oxygen in the atmosphere. It will determine the density and temperature of the atmosphere at 80-180 kilometers altitude. SPICAV was inherited from Mars Express and new developments were made for SOIR.

Instrument	CODMAC level	DATA_SET_ID	Data available up to			Data Volume (Gb)
SPICAV SOIR	2	VEX-Y-V-SPICAV-2-SOIR-EXT3-V3.0 VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-2-SOIR-EXT1-V3.0 VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-2-SOIR-EXT2-V3.0 VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-2-SOIR-EXT2-V2.0 VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-2-SOIR-EXT1-V2.0 VEX-Y-V-SPICAV-2-SOIR-V3.0 VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-2-SOIR-V2.0	22/08/2010 to 30/06.2011 25/11/2007 to 5/2/2010 31/05/2009 to 21/08/2010 Jul-2009 25/11/2007 to 31/05/2009 25/11/2005 to 3/10/2007	browse browse browse browse browse browse	download download download download download download	42 5.3 4.3  2 6.0 1
SPICAV SOIR	3	VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-3-SOIR-EXT1-V3.0	25/11/2007 to 5/2/2010	browse	download	1.8
SPICAV SOIR	3	VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-3-SOIR-V2.0	12/05/2006 to 04/09/2007	browse	download	1.2
SPICAV SOIR	3	VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-3-SOIR-EXT1-V2.0	25/11/2007 to 28/05/2009	browse	download	1.8
SPICAV SOIR	3	VEX-Y/V-SPICAV-3-SOIR-EXT2-V2.0	01/06/2009 to 19/08/2010	browse	download	1.6

SPICE

"Spice Kernels"
Led by the European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands. Spice deals with ancillary data needed to support the planning for, and analysis of, science instrument data. As well as software (the SPICE toolkit) and documentation, SPICE provides data files, called kernels, that contain ancillary information which has been created in such a way as to allow easy access and correct usage by the space science and engineering communities.

Instrument	CODMAC level	DATA_SET_ID	Data available up to			Data Volume (Gb)
SPICE		VEX-E/V-SPICE-6-V1.0	Oct-2008	browse	download	0.17

VeRa

"Venus Radio Science"
Led by the Univ. der Bunderswehr, Munich, Germany. VeRa uses the powerful radio link between the spacecraft and Earth to investigate the conditions prevalent in the ionosphere of Venus. Scientists will also use it to study the density, temperature, and pressure of the atmosphere from 35-40km up to 100km from the surface, and to determine roughness and the electrical properties of the surface. It will also allow investigations of the conditions of the solar wind in the inner part of the Solar System. VeRa was inherited from Rosetta.

Instrument	CODMAC level	DATA_SET_ID	Data available up to			Data Volume (Gb)
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0028-V1.0	11/8/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0029-V1.0	14/8/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0030-V1.0	16/8/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0031-V1.0	19/8/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0032-V1.0	21/8/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0033-V1.0	22/8/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0035-V1.0	27/8/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0039-V1.0	8/9/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0040-V1.0	10/9/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0074-V1.0	10/12/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0075-V1.0	13/12/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0076-V1.0	17/12/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0077-V1.0	18/12/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0078-V1.0	25/12/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0080-V1.0	31/12/06	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0081-V1.0	3/1/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0082-V1.0	6/1/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0084-V1.0	12/1/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0085-V1.0	14/1/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0086-V1.0	16/1/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0087-V1.0	18/1/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0088-V1.0	20/2/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0089-V1.0	22/1/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0091-V1.0	26/1/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0099-V1.0	2/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0104-V1.0	10/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0105-V1.0	12/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0106-V1.0	14/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0107-V1.0	16/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0108-V1.0	18/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0110-V1.0	22/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0113-V1.0	26/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0115-V1.0	28/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0116-V1.0	30/5/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0118-V1.0	1/6/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0119-V1.0	3/6/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0122-V1.0	7/6/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0125-V1.0	13/6/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0126-V1.0	15/6/07	browse	download	1
VeRa	1/2/3	VEX-V-VRA-1-2-3-NMP-0127-V1.0	17/6/07	browse	download	1

VIRTIS

"Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer"
Led by the CNR-IASF, Rome, Italy, and Observatoire de Paris, France. VIRTIS will be able to study the composition of the lower atmosphere between 40 kilometers altitude and the surface. It will track the clouds in both ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths and allow scientists to study atmospheric dynamics at different altitudes. VIRTIS was inherited from Rosetta.

Instrument	CODMAC level	DATA_SET_ID	Data available up to			Data Volume (Gb)
VIRTIS		VEX-V-VIRTIS-2/3-V1.0	Aug-2006 (only via ftp)	browse		66

VMC

"Venus Monitoring Camera"
Led by the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung (MPS), Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany. VMC is a wide-angle multi-channel camera that will be able to take images of the planet in the near infrared, ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. VMC will be able to make global images and will study the cloud dynamics and image the surface. In addition it will assist in the identification of phenomena seen by other instruments. VMC was designed for Venus Express, however it reuses some parts from Mars Express's High Resolution Stereo Camera.

Instrument	CODMAC level	DATA_SET_ID	Data available up to			Data Volume (Gb)
VMC		VEX-V-VMC-3-RDR-EXT1-V1.0 VEX-V-VMC-3-RDR-EXT2-V1.0 VEX-V-VMC-3-RDR-EXT3-V1.0 VEX-V-VMC-3-RDR-V1.0	23/10/2007 to 04/05/2009 05/05/2009 to 21/08/2010 21/08/2010 to 6/09/2010 15/05/2006 to 22/10/2007	browse browse browse browse	download download download download	34.0 3.98 0.4 39.64

More information about the Venus Express mission can be found at the ESA Venus Express web site.

Data from the Venus Express mission are also available directly from the Planetary Science Archive. Click for instructions for subscribing to the PSA.