The European Space Agency's (ESA's) Venus Express is finishing up its observations to prepare for a plunge into the Venusian atmosphere within the next two months.
The orbiter has spent eight years studying Venus, the second planet in our solar system, according to Gizmag.
The space agency said that due to Venus Express's propellant running low, its service life will be ending soon. ESA will fly the probe through the Venusian atmosphere to get a closer look.
The unmanned orbiter was launched on November 9, 2005 from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and arrived on Venus, April 11, 2006. During this time, Express was in a 24-hour elliptical orbit 66,000 kilometers (km) from the south pole to an altitude of close to 250 km above the surface of the north pole, which is close to the top of Venus's atmosphere, Phys.org reported.
Venus Express has provided significant information about the planet's atmosphere, ionosphere and surface.
"Venus Express has taught us just how variable the planet is on all timescales and, furthermore, has given us clues as to how it might have changed since its formation 4.6 billion years ago," said Hakan Svedhem, project scientist for ESA.
"This information is helping us decipher how Earth and Venus came to lead such dramatically different lives, but we've also noticed that there are some fundamental similarities."
Patrick Martin, mission manager for Venus Express, said the mission will serve as a short "aerodrag" campaign, which the space agency has done by skimming the thin layer of the atmosphere at almost 165 km. Martin said that they want to go at least 130 km deep. The move would gain experience in aerobraking so that it could be used in later missions. The agency views aerobraking as a technique for slowing down arriving spacecraft without rockets and propellants, which are expensive and heavy, Gizmag reported.
"It is only by carrying out daring operations like these that we can gain new insights, not only about unusually inaccessible regions of the planet's atmosphere, but also how the spacecraft and its components respond to such a hostile environment," Martin said.
ESA said the aerobraking experiment will take place between June 18 and July 11. During this time, Venus Express will still be gathering readings of the atmosphere and other conditions.
The possibility that the orbiter's remaining fuel will be exhausted during the phase remains, as does the possibility that it wont' survive the operations, Phys.org reported. However, the mission will take place if the spacecraft is in good shape.
By the end of the year, however, Venus Express will most likely have made its last descent into the atmosphere of the planet.
"Venus Express has penetrated deeper into the mysteries of this veiled planet than anyone ever dreamed, and will no doubt continue to surprise us down to the last minute," Svedhem said.
