Venus Adores The Moon By Littletinperson On Flickr.

Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun and has the highest surface temperature of any planet in our solar system, with an orbital period of about 225 Earth days. Because of its similar gravity and size, it is sometimes known as Earth’s “sister planet.” However, besides these two aspects, the two planets have almost nothing in common. With the densest atmosphere on any terrestrial planet in the solar system, the surface pressure on Venus is about 92 times that of Earth; the same pressure one kilometer beneath Earth’s oceans.

Even though Venus is comparatively much further away from the Sun than Mercury, it is the hotter planet with a surface temperature of around 462 °C; this is because of its dense atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. One remarkable aspect of the atmosphere of Venus is the precipitation of liquid sulfuric acid. The surface geology of the planet has been observed by NASA for over twenty years now, and it is seen that there is extensive and violent volcanism at the surface.

(image sources: NASA; http://www.the8planets.com/wp-content/gallery/planet-venus/venus-atmosphere.jpg, http://www.boskowan.com/blanensko/)

Apollo 11 Earthrise

Transit of Venus in 2012

Credit: NASA / SDO

Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Go for Venus! Fifty-five years ago this week, Mariner 2, the first fully successful mission to explore another planet launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Here are 10 things to know about Mariner 2.

1. Interplanetary Cruise 

On August 27, 1962, Mariner 2 launched on a three and a half month journey to Venus. The little spacecraft flew within 22,000 miles (about 35,000 kilometers) of the planet. 

2. Quick Study 

Mariner 2’s scan of Venus lasted only 42 minutes. And, like most of our visits to new places, the mission rewrote the books on what we know about Earth’s sister planet.

3. Hot Planet 

The spacecraft showed that surface temperature on Venus was hot enough to melt lead: at least 797 degrees Fahrenheit (425 degrees Celsius) on both the day and night sides.

4. Continuous Clouds 

The clouds that make Venus shine so bright in Earth’s skies are dozens of miles thick and permanent. It’s always cloudy on Venus, and the thick clouds trap heat - contributing to a runaway “greenhouse effect.”

5. Night Light 

Those clouds are why Venus shines so brightly in Earth’s night sky. The clouds reflect and scatter sunlight, making Venus second only to our Moon in celestial brightness.

6. Under Pressure 

Venus’ clouds also create crushing pressure. Mariner 2’s scan revealed pressure on the surface of Venus is equal to pressure thousands of feet under Earth’s deepest oceans.

7. Slow Turn 

Mariner 2 found Venus rotates very slowly, and in the opposite direction of most planets in our solar system.

8. Space Travel Is Tough 

Mariner 2 was a remarkable accomplishment, considering that in 1962 engineers were still in the very early stages of figuring out how operate spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. The first five interplanetary missions launched - by the U.S. and Soviet Union, the only two spacefaring nations at the time - were unsuccessful.

9. Not Ready for Its Close Up 

Mariner 2 carried no cameras. The first close-up pictures of Venus came from NASA’s Mariner 10 in 1974.  

10. Hot Shot 

The first (and still incredibly rare) photo of the surface of Venus was taken by the Soviet Venera 9 lander, which survived for a little more than a minute under the crushing pressure and intense heat on the ground.

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NASA considering cloud cities and air ships for manned mission to Venus

Cloud cities. On Venus. No, this is not the pitch for a potentially awesome science fiction story — this is a real-life proposal currently being considered by NASA. 

Though Venus’s surface is far too volatile for us to visit anytime soon, scientists believe there’s a “sweet spot” in the Venusian atmosphere that would be the perfect place to fly some exploratory air ships and eventually establish a legit cloud city. Even better? They think it could be a whole lot easier than going to Mars. Well, kinda.

At approximately 31 miles above the planet’s surface, you’ll find one atmosphere of pressure and gravity just a tad lower than that of Earth. The average temperature, though admittedly hot, is just 17 degrees (Celsius) above the average Earth temperature. Hot, sure, but not unmanageable. Compare that to the wasteland of Mars, and it doesn’t sound too bad. Plus, since Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, that height is the perfect spot to tap into solar power — which could keep the ships (and cities?) running forever.

The Space Mission Analysis Branch of NASA’s Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at Langley Research Center is working on a proposal to send a robotic probe followed by manned air ships to the planet, leading to a permanent settlement. The five phases would include robotic exploration, a crewed mission to orbit on a 30-day mission, a crewed mission to the atmosphere on a 30-day mission, a crewed mission to the atmosphere for one year and finally a permanent human presence.

So, why might this be easier (in some ways) than a mission to Mars? The distance involved. A round-trip jaunt to Venus (440 days) would take almost half the travel time as a mission to Mars (650-900 days). But that doesn’t mean every aspect is easier. As IEEE Spectrum’s Evan Ackerman noted in a report that quotes NASA scientist Dale Arney, putting all the pieces together in motion above an alien planet wouldn’t be for the faint of heart:

The crewed mission would involve a Venus orbit rendezvous, where the airship itself (folded up inside a spacecraft) would be sent to Venus ahead of time. Humans would follow in a transit vehicle (based on NASA’s Deep Space Habitat), linking up with the airship in Venus orbit.

Since there’s no surface to land on, the “landing” would be extreme, to say the least. “Traditionally, say if you’re going to Mars, you talk about ‘entry, descent, and landing,’ or EDL,” explains Arney. “Obviously, in our case, ‘landing’ would represent a significant failure of the mission, so instead we have ‘entry, descent, and inflation,’ or EDI.” The airship would enter the Venusian atmosphere inside an aeroshell at 7,200 meters per second. Over the next seven minutes, the aeroshell would decelerate to 450 m/s, and it would deploy a parachute to slow itself down further. At this point, things get crazy. The aeroshell would drop away, and the airship would begin to unfurl and inflate itself, while still dropping through the atmosphere at 100 m/s. As the airship got larger, its lift and drag would both increase to the point where the parachute became redundant. The parachute would be jettisoned, the airship would fully inflate, and (if everything had gone as it’s supposed to), it would gently float to a stop at 50 km above Venus’s surface.

Considering the whole world is focused on Mars these days, even the team behind the proposal notes it’s unlikely for the focus to shift anytime soon. But the project is still a fascinating pitch. Seriously, can you even imagine a real-life Cloud City? Lando would be proud. 

(Via io9, IEEE Spectrum)

A Sun Pillar over Norway via NASA https://ift.tt/2Hnj1WZ

SpaceTime 20180309 Series 21 Episode 19 is now out

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

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Today’s stories…

The strange dense structure discovered below the South Atlantic Anomaly A strange dense structure has been discovered directly below the South Atlantic Anomaly and just above the Earth’s core mantle boundary. The object may provide important clues about the Earth’s magnetic field and when it’s next likely to reverse polarity.

New gravity mission to monitor climate change NASA’s next Earth Gravity mission is slated to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on April 14. The twin GRACE-FO spacecraft will continue the work of the original GRACE mission, monitoring how climate change caused by man’s use of fossil fuels was affecting the planet.

New exotic state of matter created Scientists have provided proof for a new state of matter comprising an electron orbiting an atomic nucleus at such a great distance – the space between the two can contain other bound atoms. The discovery raises new questions about the definition of an atom.

The Science Report The deadly legacy of asbestos is only now reaching its peak. Police to deploy drone killers at next month’s Commonwealth Games. Australians dying from alcohol-attributable diseases at the rate of one every 90 minutes. Taking selfies really does make your nose look bigger. A skeptic’s guide to water divining.

SpaceTime Background SpaceTime is Australia’s most respected astronomy and space science news program. The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, galactic and stellar evolution, physics, spaceflight, and general science. SpaceTime features interviews with leading Australian scientists about their latest research. The show is broadcast coast to coast across the United States by the National Science Foundation on Science360 Radio, and is available in Australia as a twice weekly podcast which averages around three million downloads annually. It’s hosted through Bitez.com on all major podcast platforms. SpaceTime is also available as inflight entertainment on Virgin Australia Airlines and on Tune in Radio. The SpaceTime program began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on ABC NewsRadio. Stuart Gary created the show while he was NewsRadio’s Science Editor and evening News anchor. Gary wrote, produced and hosted the program, consistently achieving almost 9 percent of the Australian national radio audience share - according to the Neilsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, & Perth). The StarStuff podcast was hosted by ABC Science on line achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually. The program was axed in 2015 following ABC budget cuts. Gary resigned from the ABC, taking the show and audience with him and rebranding it as SpaceTime. The first SpaceTime episode was broadcast on February 8th 2016 and the show has been in production twice weekly ever since.

Solar System Infographs

Can u post pics of earth 🌍

The Blue Marble—Earth as seen by Apollo 17 in 1972

This incredible image of the Earth rise was taken during lunar orbit by the Apollo 11 mission crew in July of 1969. The first manned lunar mission, Apollo 11 launched aboard a Saturn V launch vehicle from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969.

This image taken by an astronaut aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-103 shows a panoramic view of Earth at moonrise.

In this rare image taken on July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn’s rings and our planet Earth and its moon in the same frame.

Earth as seen by Apollo 11 astronauts at the beginning of the third day of TLC

A view of the Apollo 11 lunar module “Eagle” as it returned from the surface of the moon to dock with the command module “Columbia”. A smooth mare area is visible on the Moon below and a half-illuminated Earth hangs over the horizon. The lunar module ascent stage was about 4 meters across. Command module pilot Michael Collins took this picture just before docking at 21:34:00 UT (5:34 p.m. EDT) 21 July 1969.

This panorama featuring Earth’s horizon and clouds over the South Pacific Ocean, complemented with a “tiny” distant moon (upper right), was photographed by one of the Expedition 36 crew members aboard the International Space Station.

The Sun from the Internation Space Station

images: NASA/JPL

To see more images and posts about the Earth click here.