Space mission · ESA

Venus Express

ExplorationCompletedLaunched 2005-11-09

Mission overview

Venus Express was ESA's first mission to Venus, studying its dense atmosphere from orbit.

Mission data

Identity and engineering data from Wikidata (type-verified match · Q210889) · launch date 2005-11-09 confirmed

International designator	2005-045A	Wikidata · catalogued
Manufacturer	Astrium	Wikidata · catalogued

Full field-level provenance

International designator: Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) — community-curated structured knowledge base · Wikidata · wdt · P247 · catalogued value · retrieved 2026-07-11
Manufacturer: Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) — community-curated structured knowledge base · Wikidata · wdt · P176 · catalogued value · retrieved 2026-07-11

Sourced from Wikidata (community-maintained structured data, whose statements link to their own citations where provided); each value carries its Wikidata QID. A field with conflicting Wikidata values is omitted. Launch date is used only to cross-check the catalogue, never to override it. Fields Wikidata did not provide, or where conflicting values exist, are omitted, never invented.

Outcome & discoveries

Characterised Venus's atmospheric dynamics, super-rotation, and signs of recent volcanism.

Mission profile

Knowledge connections

Operated byESA
Launched bySoyuz
Launched fromBaikonur Cosmodrome
Mission targetVenus

Mission	Type	Agency	Launch	Status
BepiColomboMercury	Orbiter	ESA	2018-10-20	En route
Mars ExpressMars	Orbiter	ESA	2003-06-02	Active
JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer)Jupiter and its icy moons	Orbiter	ESA	2023-04-14	En route
RosettaComet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko	Orbiter and lander	ESA	2004-03-02	Completed
Solar OrbiterThe Sun	Solar observatory	ESA	2020-02-10	Active
GaiaSun–Earth L2	Astrometry observatory	ESA	2013-12-19	Completed

Sources

The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.

ESAEuropean Space Agency
European missions, observatories, and space science imagery.