Venus was once considered a twin to Earth, as it's roughly the same size and is relatively close to our planet. But once astronomers looked at it seriously in the past half-century or so, a lot of contrasts emerged. The biggest ...
Space Exploration
Feb 23, 2015
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This ghostly puff of smoke is actually a mass of swirling gas and cloud at Venus' south pole, as seen by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) aboard ESA's Venus Express spacecraft.
Space Exploration
Jan 20, 2015
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ESA's Venus Express has ended its eight-year mission after far exceeding its planned life. The spacecraft exhausted its propellant during a series of thruster burns to raise its orbit following the low-altitude aerobraking ...
Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2014
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It's been an interesting year for Venus Express. A few months ago, controllers deliberately dipped the spacecraft into the atmosphere of the planet—for science purposes, of course. The daring maneuver was approved because ...
Space Exploration
Nov 28, 2014
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As the end of its eight-year adventure at Venus edges ever closer, ESA scientists have been taking a calculated risk with the Venus Express spacecraft in order to carry out unique observations of the planet's rarefied outer ...
Space Exploration
Nov 12, 2014
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ESA's Venus Express spacecraft has climbed to a new orbit following its daring aerobraking experiment, and will now resume observations of this fascinating planet for at least a few more months.
Space Exploration
Jul 29, 2014
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(Phys.org) —After a month surfing in and out of the atmosphere of Venus down to just 130 km from the planet's surface, ESA's Venus Express is about to embark on a 15 day climb up to the lofty heights of 460 km.
Space Exploration
Jul 14, 2014
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Researchers recently discovered that a common space weather phenomenon on the outskirts of Earth's magnetic bubble, the magnetosphere, has much larger repercussions for Venus. The giant explosions, called hot flow anomalies, ...
Space Exploration
Feb 20, 2014
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(Phys.org) —The planet Venus is blanketed by high-level clouds. At visible wavelengths, individual cloud features are difficult to see, but observations made by instruments on ESA's Venus Express orbiter have revealed many ...
Space Exploration
Jan 22, 2014
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The polar atmosphere of Venus is thinner than expected. How do we know? Because ESA's Venus Express has actually been there. Instead of looking from orbit, Venus Express has flown through the upper reaches of the planet?s ...
Space Exploration
Oct 7, 2010
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