Venus Express goes gently into the night

Venus Express goes gently into the night
Paris (ESA) Dec 18, 2014 - 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 earlier this year. Since its arrival at Venus in 2006, Venus Express had been on an elliptical 24-hour orbit, traveling 66 000 km above the south pole at its furthest po ... more

---