The Venus Express spacecraft, now orbiting Venus and much closer to the Sun than Earth, was affected by the radiation on 7 March.The startracker cameras that help Venus Express measure its position and orientation in space were ‘blinded’ starting at 01:41 GMT. "The Mission Control Team has taken the startrackers out of service and is maintaining the spacecraft's attitude using gyroscopes until the solar effects fade," says Octavio Camino, Venus Express Spacecraft Operations Manager at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
ESA Operations@esaoperations #Venusexpress #startrackers were back functioning as of this AM at 03:25 UT