Studies on the Re-use of the Mars-Express Platform

Introduction The Venus Express spacecraft – an Orbiter for the study of the atmosphere, plasma environment and surface of Venus – is derived from the Mars Express bus, with some modifications to cope with the hotter thermal environment at Venus (Fig. 1). The scientific payload included in the Venus Express Study comprises six instruments derived from Mars Express or Rosetta flight-spare units. In addition, during the study it was found scientifically reasonable and technically feasible to replace the standard Mars Express engineering Video Monitoring Camera by a scientific instrument known as the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC).