ALTER will be the Coordinated Central Procurement Agency (CPPA) for the EnVision mission. Our work will consist of engineering, procurement and testing of all electronic components and technologies to be used by the payload companies.
EnVision is an innovative mission lead by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with NASA, aimed at exploring Venus. This mission is crucial to understand the differences between Venus and Earth, despite their similar origins.
The EnVision mission will study Venus in depth, from its core to its atmosphere. Its main objectives are to investigate the evolution of the surface and interior of Venus, to assess its geological and tectonic activity, and to understand how its atmosphere and climate are influenced by geological processes.
SPACECRAFT
The spacecraft will be a roughly rectangular three-axis stabilised satellite, weighing approximately 1.6 tonnes at launch (launch dry mass), measuring approx. 2 m x 2 m x 3 m in stowed configuration, with two deployable solar arrays.
LAUNCH, PLANETARY TRANSFER, AND VENUS ORBIT PHASES
The EnVision launch is scheduled for late 2031, with back-up dates in 2032 and 2033. The mission will launch with an Ariane 62 rocket into a High Elliptic Orbit (HEO) followed by an Earth Escape Manouver.
The interplanetary cruise phase will take around 15 months.
The Venus orbit insertion will be highly elliptic, and the final science orbit will be reached by means of Aerobraking. The Aerobraking phase will take around 16 months, and will be followed by a 2-months in-orbit commissioning phase prior to the science operation phase.
The EnVision science operation phase duration is 6 Venus cycles (about 4 Earth years).
