spacetoday.net: Venus Express ends mission

Posted: Wed, Dec 24, 2014, 11:24 AM ET (1624 GMT)
Venus Express illustration (ESA)

The European Space Agency has declared its Venus Express mission at an end when the orbiting spacecraft ran out of propellant, the agency recently announced. Venus Express was raising its orbit in late November when controllers lost contract with the spacecraft. Efforts to restore communications were only partially successful. Project officials suspect that the spacecraft ran out of propellant during the orbit raising effort, which came after a series of aerobraking tests where the spacecraft flew through the upper atmosphere. ESA considered the mission, which had been in orbit around Venus since 2006, a great success.