Venus as seen from the Mariner 10 probe taken in 1974
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Mariner 2 found Venus rotates very slowly, and in the opposite direction of most planets in our solar system.
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.
Mariner 2 carried no cameras. The first close-up pictures of Venus came from NASA’s Mariner 10 in 1974.
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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Computer-generated image of the surface of Venus using radar data collected from the Magellan spacecraft [1024 × 1024]
I’ve finally got round to continuing with my series of photos about the planets of the solar system! Next on my list is Venus. Venus is the second closest planet to our home star and notable for many strange oddities. For example, it has a rotational period of 243 days, whilst a year takes just 225 days. It has a diameter of ~12100km, making it very similar in size to Earth. It is often compared to Earth as its so-called twin planet, which may be true for aspects such as mass, size and proximity to the sun, but for almost everything else, they are vastly different.
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ASTEROID DAY 2018
On 30 June 1908, 110 years ago, a 40 m asteroid struck the Earth over Tunguska, Siberia.
Destroying an area of forest the size of Greater London, this was the most significant impact event in Earth’s recent history.
Now recognised by the United Nations as Asteroid Day, 30 June marks a global opportunity to raise awareness of the threat and opportunity posed by the numerous rocky bodies traversing space.
Since 2009, ESA has played a leading role in the global hunt for risky asteroids and comets – known formally to astronomers as near-Earth objects (NEO) – and is currently developing cutting-edge widefield telescopes that will have the ability to scan the entire sky in just 48 hours.
ESA also carries out crucial analysis as part of its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme and mobilises observatories and astronomers worldwide through its SSA NEO Coordination Centre at the Agency’s ESRIN facility in Italy.
Each year, Asteroid Day is broadcast live across the globe with a packed programme that brings together astronauts, rock stars and scientists.
Highlighting our potentially vulnerable place in space, the live event also describes the many ingenious and yet not-far-from scifi potential solutions to these dangerous roaming rocks.
Each year hundreds of regional events also take place, with 78 countries so far having hosted concerts, community events, lectures and much more.
When it landed on Venus on December 15th, 1970, Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft-landing on another planet. Only able to transmit surface data back to Earth for 23 minutes due to signal degradation, it was determined by Venera 7’s transmission that the atmosphere of Venus is composed 97% of carbon dioxide, with a temperature reading of 887°F (475°C).
NASA is developing a rover for Venus that could survive the planet’s tumultuous atmosphere.
Clearest image ever taken of Venus. Photo by JAXA.
Image of the clouds of Venus via the European Space Agency
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So NASA won the internet today…