Amsterdam, Toulouse, Friedrichshafen, Stevenage, 03 June 2004
On the 8th of June, between 7:13 am and 1:26 pm, the planet VENUS will pass in front of the Sun in what astronomers call the ‘Transit of Ve-nus’, a distinctive planetary conjunction in which the Earth, Venus and the Sun are aligned. In the past, this phenomenon, observable on aver-age once or twice a century, has been used to make a relatively accu-rate estimate of the value of the Astronomical Unit (AU), the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
At the same time as this astrophysical event is taking place, EADS As-trium is working on VENUS EXPRESS, the first European space probe designed to study the atmosphere of Venus, for the European Space Agency (ESA). This key stage follows a definition and design review successfully carried out by EADS ASTRIUM as prime contractor in just 18 month.
The contract for this major scientific planetary exploration programme was signed in February 2003, although preliminary work has been ongo-ing since September 2002. Building on the experience of the MARS EX-PRESS programme, launched on the 2nd of June 2003 towards the planet Mars, and the ROSETTA programme, launched on the 2nd of March 2004 towards the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, with VENUS EXPRESS EADS Astrium is responding to the triple challenge of com-bining economic efficiency, unprecedented development time and scien-tific performance.
The assembly and testing stages already underway, with the schedule of activities leading to a launch from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Ka-zakhstan planned for the 26th of October 2005.
The probe will be sent into space by a Soyouz-Fregat rocket and imme-diately placed in its orbit for transfer towards Venus. Its journey through space will last about five months and its mission around Venus two Venusian days, the equivalent of 500 days on Earth.
An analysis and understanding of the conditions prevailing in the atmos-phere and environment close to Venus is of crucial importance for our understanding of the long-term climatic processes governing the devel-opment of life on Earth.
Venus Express will therefore carry out in-depth research into the atmos-phere of the planet Venus. Its payload includes seven scientific instru-ments: spectrometers, imagers covering a range of wavelengths from UV to thermal IR, and a plasma analyser for investigating the planet’s atmosphere in terms of structure, composition and dynamics up to an altitude of 250 km.
After SOHO, CLUSTER, ROSETTA and MARS EXPRESS, VENUS EXPRESS strengthens EADS Astrium’s reputation as the European leader in planetary exploration, a role that the company intends to rein-force with future missions to Mars (within the framework of ESA’s AURORA programme), to Mercury (Mission BePI-Colombo) and to the Sun (SOLO).
EADS Astrium is the European leader in the field of satellites. Its activi-ties also cover complete civil and military telecommunications and ob-servation systems, scientific and navigation programmes, along with all the avionics and equipment for spacecraft. EADS Astrium is a subsidiary of EADS SPACE.
EADS SPACE is a subsidiary of EADS specialising in civil and military space systems. In 2003, it had a turnover of 2.4 billion euros and em-ployed 12,000 people in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain.
EADS is a world leader in aerospace, defence and associated services.
In 2003, EADS posted a turnover of 30.1 billion euros with a workforce of more than 100,000 people.
