Venus Surface Investigation Using VIRTIS Onboard the ESA/Venus Express Mission

Venus Express Mission is the first ESA mission to Venus that will be launched in November 2005. In April 2006 after ~150 days of cruise the spacecraft will be inserted into highly elliptical polar orbit around Venus. The observational phase will begin after about one month of commissioning phase. The nominal mission orbital life-time is two Venus sidereal days (~486 Earth days). The scientific goals of Venus Express are related to the global atmospheric circulation and atmosphere chemical composition, the surfaceatmosphere physical and chemical interactions, the physics and chemistry of the cloud layer, the thermal balance and role of trace gases in the greenhouse effect, and the plasma environment and its interaction with the solar wind.