VENUS EXPRESS PLS SUPPORT

金星快车的任务计划是由来自英国的泰勒教授和来自法国和德国的两名同事分别组织的。他继续在几个层面上实施该项目的目标，现在主要是作为跨学科科学家(IDS)，但也继续通过协助项目科学家和欧空局团队在更广泛的意义上支持特派团的发展。任务的总体目标是对金星大气、等离子体环境和金星表面的某些方面进行全球调查。入侵检测系统项目的重点是了解金星的大气层，特别是决定金星表面气候的关键过程、其演变以及与地球的异同。金星快车是欧空局在重复使用火星快车航天器的基础上，首次前往金星的任务。它的有效载荷由七台科学仪器组成：ASPERA、PFS、SPICAV/SOIR、VERA和VIRTIS，它们是火星快车和罗塞塔的遗产，以及MAG和VMC，这些都是新的仪器。VIRTIS(可见光-红外热成像光谱仪)是最大的仪器，有两个牛津大学的合作伙伴，泰勒教授和P·欧文博士。金星快车于2005年底成功发射，于2006年4月初抵达金星。然后，该任务完成了500个地球日(2个金星日)的名义任务，目前正在进行第一次任务延期，定于2009年5月结束。然而，该航天器仍有足够的燃料维持其轨道数年，因此欧空局目前正在计划第二次任务延期，涵盖再运行两年(至2011年5月)，这被认为非常有可能继续进行。在延长的任务期间，金星快车将专注于几个新的科学目标。-绘制大气行为的长期和年际变化图。观测到的许多气象和气候过程显示出长期变化或长期周期性，只有通过长期的数据才能解决这些问题。也有一些证据表明二氧化硫显著减少，这可能表明火山活动是幕式的。-绘制地表尚未勘探区域的地图。VIRTIS仪器正在使用红外窗口区域的夜间观测来生成表面属性地图--然而，到目前为止，只有大约70%的表面被绘制了地图。-金星快车到达金星时接近太阳最低点；为了充分计算逃逸预算，我们不仅需要测量太阳风相互作用，而且还需要测量太阳风相互作用，直到太阳最高点(将发生在2012年左右)。-大气阻力实验，以研究高层大气中的密度变化。-金星快车和日本金星气候轨道器的联合观测，将于2010年12月抵达金星。所有这些活动都与申请者的入侵检测系统角色有关，需要仔细规划和谈判航天器操作以及仪器模式和序列，最好包括与日本科学家和飞行任务管理人员进行谈判，如下文所述。欧空局已经与日本机构讨论了一个联合工作组，以推动这一进程，申请者已被邀请成为该工作组的成员。与此同时，与成功实施入侵检测系统提案有关的关键合作是与各种仪器的主要研究小组、南特大学的其他入侵检测系统、丹佛自然和科学博物馆天体生物学分部以及加州理工学院。上述合作为气候研究贡献了外层过程、内部过程和表面化学方面的专门知识。牛津大学的工作重点是金星大气，包括使用有效载荷上的遥感仪器来调查金星上的温度、成分和深云结构，并了解全球环流、云化学和气象学。

The Venus Express mission proposal was organised by Prof. Taylor from the UK and two colleagues from France and Germany respectively. He continues to implement the goals of the project at several levels, now principally in the role of Interdisciplinary Scientist (IDS), but also by continuing to support the development of the mission in a broader sense by assisting the Project Scientist and the ESA team. The overall mission aim is a global investigation of the Venusian atmosphere, plasma environment and some aspects of the surface. The IDS project is focused on understanding the atmosphere of Venus, in particular the key processes that determine the climate at the surface, its evolution, and similarities and differences with the Earth. Venus Express is ESA's first mission to Venus, based on re-use of the Mars Express spacecraft. It has a payload consisting of seven scientific instruments, ASPERA, PFS, SPICAV/SOIR, VeRA and VIRTIS, with heritage from Mars Express and Rosetta, and MAG and VMC, which are new instruments. VIRTIS (Visible-Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) is the largest instrument, and has two Oxford Co-Is, Prof. Taylor and Dr P. Irwin. Venus Express was successfully launched in late 2005, arriving at Venus at the beginning of April 2006. The mission then completed a nominal mission of 500 Earth days (2 Venus days), and is now well into its first mission extension, due to end in May 2009. However, the spacecraft still has enough fuel to maintain its orbit for several years, so ESA is currently planning a second mission extension covering operations for a further two years (until May 2011) and this is considered very likely to go ahead. During the extended mission Venus Express will focus on several new science goals. - Mapping of long-term and interannual variation of atmospheric behaviour. Many of the meteorological and climatological process being observed show secular variations or long-term periodicity that can only be resolved with a long run of data. There is also some evidence showing a marked decrease of SO2, which could indicate episodic volcanic activity. - Mapping of as-yet-unexplored regions of the surface. The VIRTIS instrument is generating maps of surface properties using nightside observations in infrared window regions - however, only ~ 70% of the surface has been mapped to date. - Venus Express arrived at Venus near the solar minimum; to fully calculate the escape budgets we need measurements of solar wind interaction not only at solar minimum but through to solar maximum as well (due to occur around 2012). - Atmospheric drag experiments to investigate density variations in the upper atmosphere. - Joint observations between Venus Express and the Japanese Venus Climate Orbiter, which will arrive at Venus in December 2010. All of these activities are related to the applicant's IDS role and will require careful planning and negotiation of spacecraft operations and instrument modes and sequences, ideally including with the Japanese scientists and mission managers, as described later. ESA has discussed a joint working group with the Japanese agency in order to take this forward and the applicant has been invited to be a member of this. Meanwhile, the key collaborations related to implementing the successful IDS proposal are with the principal investigator groups for the various instruments, and with other IDSs at University of Nantes, Astrobiology Division of the Nature and Science Museum in Denver, and the California Institute of Technology. The collaborations mentioned above contribute expertise on exospheric processes, interior processes, and surface chemistry to the studies of climate. The role at Oxford is focussed on the Venusian atmosphere, including the use of the remote sensing instruments on the payload to investigate the temperature, composition and deep cloud structure on Venus, and to understand the global circulation, cloud chemistry and meteorology.