First ever in situ observations of Venus' polar upper atmosphere density using the tracking data of the Venus Express Atmospheric Drag Experiment (VExADE)

• Published in: Icarus
• Main Authors: Rosenblatt, Pascal, Bruinsma, S.L., Müller-Wodarg, I.C.F., Häusler, B., Svedhem, H., Marty, J.C.
• Other Authors: UCL - SST/ELI - Earth and Life Institute
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Academic Press 2012
• Subjects: North Pole; Venus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/161059; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2011.06.019

On its highly elliptical 24. h orbit around Venus, the Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft briefly reaches a periapsis altitude of nominally 250. km. Recently, however, dedicated and intense radio tracking campaigns have taken place in August 2008, October 2009, February and April 2010, for which the per...