PARIS, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says its Venus Express spacecraft is among Popular Science magazine's top 100 technological innovations of 2006.
The award recognizes both the speed with which the 1-year-old mission was put together and the unprecedented study it is making of Earth's nearest planetary neighbor.
"To receive such recognition from a general science organization is very rewarding," said Hakan Svedhem, the ESA's Venus Express project scientist.
"Venus Express has ... gone a long way to changing how some space missions are built," said Mark Jarrot, editor of Popular Science. "Venus Express grew out of Mars Express. It reused the design of that spacecraft and some of the instruments to produce a world-class spacecraft in record time. From approval to launch, Venus Express took less than three years."
The December issue of Popular Science featuring Venus Express and the other winners of the Best of What's New awards is to hit newsstands Dec. 14.
