NottinghamFor decades, exploration of our solar system has left one of our neighboring planets, Venus, largely unexplored. Now, things will change.
In the latest announcement from NASA’s Solar System Exploration Program, two missions have been given the green light – both headed for Venus. The two ambitious missions will be launched between 2028 and 2030.
This is a major change in the direction of NASA’s Division of Planetary Science, which has not sent a mission to the planet since 1990. This is exciting news for astronomers like myself.
Venus is a hostile world. The atmosphere contains sulfuric acid and the surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead. But it’s not always like this. It is believed that Venus began to be very similar to Earth. so what happened?
While carbon is on Earth, it is mostly trapped in rocks, and on Venus it escapes into the atmosphere – making up about 96 percent carbon dioxide. This results in the phenomenon of uncontrolled global warming, which raises surface temperatures by up to 750 K (470 °C or 900 °F).
The history of the planet makes it an excellent place to study the effects of global warming and learn how to manage it on Earth. We can use a model that describes the extremes of Venus’ atmosphere and compare the results with what we see at home.
But the harsh surface conditions are one reason planetary exploration missions avoid Venus. The high temperature means an extremely high pressure of 90 bar (the equivalent of about a kilometer underwater) which is enough to instantly destroy most of the planet’s landers.
It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that missions to Venus are not always planned. Most of the exploration to date was carried out by the Soviet Union between the 1960s and 1980s. There are exceptions, such as NASA’s Pioneer Venus mission in 1972 and the European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission in 2006.
The first landing occurred in 1970, when the Soviet plane Venera 7 crashed due to a melted parachute. But it is capable of sending 20 minutes of data back to Earth. The first surface image was taken by Venera 9, followed by Veneras 10, 13 and 14.
–
