November 2007: A series of papers was published in Nature giving the initial findings. It finds evidence for past oceans. It confirms the presence of lightning on Venus and that it is more common on Venus than it is on Earth. It also reports the discovery that a huge double atmospheric vortex exists at the south pole of the planet. 20 May 2008: The detection by the VIRTIS instrument of hydroxyl (OH) in the atmosphere of Venus is reported in the May 2008 issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics. 4 February 2009: ESA agrees to fund mission extension until 31 December 2009. 7 October 2009: ESA agrees to fund the mission through 31 December 2012. 23 November 2010: ESA agrees to fund the mission through 31 December 2014. 25 August 2011: It is reported that a layer of ozone exists in the upper atmosphere of Venus. 1 October 2012: It is reported that a cold layer where dry ice may precipate exists in the atmosphere of Venus. 18 June—11 July 2014: Performs successful aerobraking experiment. Multiple passes at 131 to 135 km altitude. 28 November 2014: Mission control loses contact with Venus Express. 3 December 2014: Intermittent contact established, spacecraft determined to likely be out of propellant. 16 December 2014: ESA declares the Venus Express mission over. 18 January 2015: Last detection of the spacecraft's X-band carrier signal. See also Uncrewed space mission List of planetary probes List of missions to Venus List of uncrewed spacecraft by program Space exploration Space telescope Space probe Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes Timeline of planetary exploration References Further reading External links Venus Express mission page by the European Space Agency Venus Express mission page by ESA Spacecraft Operations Venus Express profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration Space probes launched in 2005 European Space Agency space probes Embedded systems Missions to Venus Orbiters (space probe) Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets