Venus Express science planning

Venus Express is the first Europeao mission to the planet Venus. Its payload consists of seven instiumeots and will investigate the atmosphere, the plasma environment, and the surface ofVenus from orbit. Science planning is a complex process that takes into account requests from ali experiments and the operational constraints. Tbe plaoning of the science operations is based on synergetic approach to provide good coverage of science themes derived from the main mission goals. Typical observations in a single orbit-so-called science cases are used to build the mission science activity pIan. Tbe nominaI science mission (from June 4, 2006 till October 2, 2007) is divided in nine phases depending on observational conditions, occurrences of the solar and Earth occultation, and particular science goals. Tbe observation timelines for each phase were developed in a coordinated way to optimize the payload activity, maximize the overall mission science retum, and to fit into the available mission budgets.