However, some mission characteristics led to design changes: primarily in the areas of thermal control, communications and electrical power.

The mission was proposed by a consortium led by D. Titov (Germany), E. Lellouch (France) and F. Taylor (United Kingdom).

It arrived at Venus on 11 April 2006, after 153 days of journey, and fired its main engine between 07:10:29 and 08:00:42 UTC SCET to reduce its velocity so that it could be captured by Venusian gravity into a nine-day orbit of 400 by 330,000 kilometres (250 by 205,050 mi).

[8] Venus Express entered its target orbit at apoapsis on 7 May 2006 at 13:31 UTC, when the spacecraft was 151,000,000 kilometres (94,000,000 mi) from Earth.

The identical second of the pair was placed the necessary distance away from the body by unfolding a 1 m long boom (carbon composite tube).

Two redundant pyrotechnical cutters cut one loop of thin rope to free the power of metal springs.

[15] By combining the data from two-point simultaneous measurements and using software to identify and remove interference generated by Venus Express itself, it was possible to obtain results of a quality comparable to those produced by a magnetically clean craft.

[16] It operated in the visible (VIS), ultraviolet (UV), and near infrared (NIR1 and NIR2) spectral ranges, and maps surface brightness distribution searching for volcanic activity, monitoring airglow, studying the distribution of unknown ultraviolet absorbing phenomenon at the cloud-tops, and making other science observations.

It was derived in part from the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and the Rosetta Optical, Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS).

The camera is based on a Kodak KAI-1010 Series, 1024 x 1024 pixel interline CCD, and included an FPGA to pre-process image data, reducing the amount transmitted to Earth.

It should have performed global, long-term monitoring of the three-dimensional temperature field in the lower atmosphere (cloud level up to 100 kilometers).

These radio waves were received by a ground station on Earth for analysis of the ionosphere, atmosphere and surface of Venus.

Starting out in the early planetary system with similar sizes and chemical compositions, the histories of Venus and Earth have diverged in spectacular fashion.

[22] In 2006, its research result identified the differences between Venus and Earth and started to observe routine climate changes.

In images acquired by the probe, Earth was less than one pixel in size, which mimics observations of Earth-sized planets in other planetary systems.