Hybrid Simulations of Venus

The presence of the Venus Express spacecraft and triggered a renewed interest in the solar wind interaction with Venus. The Venus Express mission has also triggered a renewed interest in the Pioneer Venus Orbiter mission which was on station through a complete solar cycle. The paper will discuss our hybrid simulations of the solar wind interaction with Venus. The simulations represent a rather significant step in the simulation of Venus as the kinetic behavior of the ions is coupled with a realistic ionosphere created by ongoing chemistry. Our initial goal is to examine the escape of ions from the Venutian ionosphere as well as examine the changes of rates as a function of solar wind parameters. Results of our initial simulations will be presented