Venus Express

Venus Express (VEX) was the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Launched in November 2005, it arrived at Venus in April 2006 and began continuously sending back science data from its polar orbit around Venus. Equipped with seven scientific instruments, the main objective of the mission was the long term observation of the Venusian atmosphere. The observation over such long periods of time had never been done in previous missions to Venus, and was key to a better understanding of the atmospheric dynamics. ESA concluded the mission in December 2014.

Orbits and trajectories of Mariner 2, Venera 4, Pioneer Venus Orbiter, and Venus Express Animation of Venus Express's trajectory from 9 November 2005 to 31 December 2006   Venus Express ·   Venus ·   Earth ·   Sun Animation of Venus Express's trajectory around Venus from 1 April 2006 to 1 April 2008  Venus Express ·   Venus Venus, May 2006 Ultraviolet picture (with arbitrary color) of Venus. The clouds betray the extremely fast winds at mid levels of the atmosphere, which circumnavigate the globe in just four days, August 2008 Ultraviolet picture colored to draw out highlights in the clouds, August 2008 The daylight side shown in visible light and the night side in infrared, September 2008 On the left is what the planet looked like in visible light: a nearly featureless orb of highly-reflective clouds. On the right is a shot taken at about the same time through a filter sensitive to ultraviolet light, which the human eye can't see, September 2008 Venus in infrared (here as red) and ultraviolet light by Venus Express, December 2008