Venus, it's considered to be the evil twin of the Earth. Reigns of sulfuric acid, carbon dioxide-filled air, and hellish temperatures, but this world has always interested us. The Soviet Union decided to do the seemingly impossible: Lander Probe on its surface. Scientists didn't give up and collected unique scientific data and recovered images directly from the surface of the planet. So, how did one Soviet spacecraft manage to withstand the hellish planet's heat for almost an hour? What did the Soviet probes and the Parker solar probe capture, and why do some images of Venus still surprise scientists?
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On February 9th, 2022, NASA's Parker solar probe took its first real images of Venus in invisible and near-infrared light. The probe used its wide-field imager to capture the entire night side of Venus. NASA combined the images that the Parker solar probe took as it flew past the planet and compiled a video. Here's what the Parker probe captured: the footage shows a faint glow on the planet's surface, the outlines of its continental regions, plains, and plateaus, and even an incredible glowing halo of oxygen in the atmosphere. Scientists assumed the Parker solar probe would only capture the tops of the clouds that hide Venus, but it exceeded their expectations and was able to see the planet's surface through the dense veil of its atmosphere. According to scientists, due to the planet's incredibly high temperature, the rocky surface of Venus glows like a piece of iron pulled from a forge. Long before that, the USSR dreamed of landing their probes on Venus, but they had several unsuccessful attempts. Venera 4 and Venera 5 were the first USSR spacecraft that managed to transmit valuable information about the planet's atmosphere. They discovered the dense clouds in as many as three layers enveloped Venus. In December 1970, the Venera 7 became the first probe to soft-land on the surface of another planet. Thanks to a powerful cooling system, it lasted 23 minutes under intense heat. With the help of measuring instruments, the probe transmitted detailed data on the temperature, pressure, and atmospheric density back to Earth. Meanwhile, NASA started launching missions to Venus.
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The first American spacecraft to fly by and study Venus in 1962 was the Mariner 2 space probe. The data received turned all ideas about the Earth's twin upside down. The probe showed a desolate red-hot world with temperatures reaching 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The thick atmosphere of Venus was found to consist of corrosive sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide, and the atmospheric pressure was nine times greater than Earth's, enough to flatten any ship.
The first close-up image of the planet was sent by the Mariner 10 probe in 1974. The idea was edited to show what Venus would look like in color as seen by human eyes. It shows thick clouds of carbon dioxide that enveloped the red-hot planet. The Venera 9 and Venera 10 probes took their first images directly from the planet's surface, landing a few days apart in October 1975. To prevent the cameras from going out of service immediately, they were placed inside the ship in a protected compartment through a special porthole. Light from the surface reached the periscopic device, which then directed it to the camera. The images lack detail and appeared in black and white because the color cameras could not withstand the high temperatures and pressures of the planet. But for the first time, people could see the surface of a world located 61 million kilometers away from Earth at its nearest.
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The image made by Venera 9 shows a terrain covered with numerous rocks with sharp edges, and the Venera 10 panorama showed some bizarre formations resembling something like frozen lava flows. The Venera 14 spacecraft, launched from Earth in 1981, also took great images. It stayed on the planet's surface for 57 minutes. The instruments were stored in a sealed titanium case and cooled down considerably before they reached the surface. The camera module managed to take 14 colorful and eight black-and-white images of the planet's surface. This stunning colorful panoramic view became particularly famous. It captures rock formations surrounded by dark shallow soil. Several incomprehensible objects can also be seen in this desolate landscape. A team of scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences has published an article suggesting they are signs of civilization on Venus. Some of the details in the image resemble a disc, a black cloth, and a scorpion. These objects suddenly appear in the frame, move, and then disappear. But the sensation didn't last long; soon it turned out that the images included parts of the probe that had fallen off after a difficult landing.
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And here's another unique area of the planet with a diameter of about 300 kilometers. A large circular structure near the center of the image is the Giant Aim Corona, a volcanic formation about 200 kilometers in diameter. Coronas are unique ring-shaped structures on Venus. They were formed by plumes of red-hot rock flowing from deep within the planet through the mantle and crust. Not far from the corona, there's something else, a so-called pancake dome approximately 35 kilometers in diameter. Unusual in appearance, these pancake domes are generally a few tens of kilometers in diameter, approximately one kilometer high, and are remarkably circular in shape. Scientists say they were formed by ancient eruptions of extremely viscous lava. The planet first seemed to be devoid of internal energy, but it turned out to be quite active. Tectonic activity may still continue in the depths of Venus, and volcanoes could still spew lava on its surface. This is the volcano, Matt Mons. Although it's not an actual direct image, the Magellan spacecraft couldn't see the surface of Venus through the thick layer of clouds, but its onboard radar surveyed the planet and transmitted the results to Earth. Here are computer-generated stunning views of Venus based on the received data. Matt Mons is the tallest volcano on Venus, eight kilometers high, and scientists suspect a recent eruption. You can see a huge crater in its center and a chain of very small craters scattered around the area.
Which future space missions are you looking forward to, and what gets you the most excited about the cosmos? Let us know in the comments.
.png "Venus")
On February 9th, 2022, NASA's Parker solar probe took its first real images of Venus in invisible and near-infrared light. The probe used its wide-field imager to capture the entire night side of Venus. NASA combined the images that the Parker solar probe took as it flew past the planet and compiled a video. Here's what the Parker probe captured: the footage shows a faint glow on the planet's surface, the outlines of its continental regions, plains, and plateaus, and even an incredible glowing halo of oxygen in the atmosphere. Scientists assumed the Parker solar probe would only capture the tops of the clouds that hide Venus, but it exceeded their expectations and was able to see the planet's surface through the dense veil of its atmosphere. According to scientists, due to the planet's incredibly high temperature, the rocky surface of Venus glows like a piece of iron pulled from a forge. Long before that, the USSR dreamed of landing their probes on Venus, but they had several unsuccessful attempts. Venera 4 and Venera 5 were the first USSR spacecraft that managed to transmit valuable information about the planet's atmosphere. They discovered the dense clouds in as many as three layers enveloped Venus. In December 1970, the Venera 7 became the first probe to soft-land on the surface of another planet. Thanks to a powerful cooling system, it lasted 23 minutes under intense heat. With the help of measuring instruments, the probe transmitted detailed data on the temperature, pressure, and atmospheric density back to Earth. Meanwhile, NASA started launching missions to Venus.
.png "Parker solar probe")
The first American spacecraft to fly by and study Venus in 1962 was the Mariner 2 space probe. The data received turned all ideas about the Earth's twin upside down. The probe showed a desolate red-hot world with temperatures reaching 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The thick atmosphere of Venus was found to consist of corrosive sulfuric acid and carbon dioxide, and the atmospheric pressure was nine times greater than Earth's, enough to flatten any ship.
The first close-up image of the planet was sent by the Mariner 10 probe in 1974. The idea was edited to show what Venus would look like in color as seen by human eyes. It shows thick clouds of carbon dioxide that enveloped the red-hot planet. The Venera 9 and Venera 10 probes took their first images directly from the planet's surface, landing a few days apart in October 1975. To prevent the cameras from going out of service immediately, they were placed inside the ship in a protected compartment through a special porthole. Light from the surface reached the periscopic device, which then directed it to the camera. The images lack detail and appeared in black and white because the color cameras could not withstand the high temperatures and pressures of the planet. But for the first time, people could see the surface of a world located 61 million kilometers away from Earth at its nearest.
.png "venera 7")
The image made by Venera 9 shows a terrain covered with numerous rocks with sharp edges, and the Venera 10 panorama showed some bizarre formations resembling something like frozen lava flows. The Venera 14 spacecraft, launched from Earth in 1981, also took great images. It stayed on the planet's surface for 57 minutes. The instruments were stored in a sealed titanium case and cooled down considerably before they reached the surface. The camera module managed to take 14 colorful and eight black-and-white images of the planet's surface. This stunning colorful panoramic view became particularly famous. It captures rock formations surrounded by dark shallow soil. Several incomprehensible objects can also be seen in this desolate landscape. A team of scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences has published an article suggesting they are signs of civilization on Venus. Some of the details in the image resemble a disc, a black cloth, and a scorpion. These objects suddenly appear in the frame, move, and then disappear. But the sensation didn't last long; soon it turned out that the images included parts of the probe that had fallen off after a difficult landing.
.png "Maxwell mountain")
These were the last images of Venus taken by the Soviet probes, but the photo shoots of the planet were just beginning. In 1989, the U.S. launched the Magellan spacecraft, which brought us many vivid images of Venus. They show the ancient volcanoes of the planet, unique meteorite impact craters, and incredibly huge mountains. The tallest of them, Maxwell Montes, is 11 kilometers high. To compare, Mount Everest is just 8.8 kilometers high. The dark crater to the right and above the center is called Cleopatra, and the black stripes in the image are unmapped places. Among the areas of Venus shown by Magellan, there's something breathtaking located in the Estela region of Venus. This is a volcanic edifice 66 kilometers across the base. There are also some incomprehensible lines across the terrain. These are tesseri, tectonically complex units that occupy about eight percent of the surface of Venus. They commonly occur as high-standing crustal plateaus that are invaded by lava flows from adjacent volcanic plains. So far, such patterns have only been found on the surface of Venus.
.png "venus surface")
And here's another unique area of the planet with a diameter of about 300 kilometers. A large circular structure near the center of the image is the Giant Aim Corona, a volcanic formation about 200 kilometers in diameter. Coronas are unique ring-shaped structures on Venus. They were formed by plumes of red-hot rock flowing from deep within the planet through the mantle and crust. Not far from the corona, there's something else, a so-called pancake dome approximately 35 kilometers in diameter. Unusual in appearance, these pancake domes are generally a few tens of kilometers in diameter, approximately one kilometer high, and are remarkably circular in shape. Scientists say they were formed by ancient eruptions of extremely viscous lava. The planet first seemed to be devoid of internal energy, but it turned out to be quite active. Tectonic activity may still continue in the depths of Venus, and volcanoes could still spew lava on its surface. This is the volcano, Matt Mons. Although it's not an actual direct image, the Magellan spacecraft couldn't see the surface of Venus through the thick layer of clouds, but its onboard radar surveyed the planet and transmitted the results to Earth. Here are computer-generated stunning views of Venus based on the received data. Matt Mons is the tallest volcano on Venus, eight kilometers high, and scientists suspect a recent eruption. You can see a huge crater in its center and a chain of very small craters scattered around the area.
The images are incredible, but what about this talk of possible life living in the clouds of Venus?
Astronomers have long speculated that Venus's clouds might be home to microbes. Unlike the incredibly high heat on the planet's surface, the temperature in the Venusian high clouds reaches a comfortable 30 degrees Celsius. Although these clouds also contain about 90% sulfuric acid, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are now looking for super microbes in the planet's clouds. But NASA is planning on launching two more probes, the Da Vinci and Veritas missions, to try and uncover more about Venus. And the European Space Agency will send the Envision Orbiter to the planet. Russia is also preparing a project called Venera-D. Roscosmos plans to send an Orbiter and a Lander to Venus, and it's hoped that the Lander will be able to withstand the harsh environment for an entire month. The Orbiter and Lander are expected to transmit many images of Venus to Earth in invisible and near-infrared light.Which future space missions are you looking forward to, and what gets you the most excited about the cosmos? Let us know in the comments.