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ESA to Send Spacecraft to Venus

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the just-being-neighborly dept.

teeto writes to tell us The International Herald Tribune is reporting that the European Space Agency is planning to send a spacecraft to peer at Venus." From the article: "If the robot craft pulls off the complex maneuver of slowing down enough to swing into orbit, scientists hope it will help solve the mystery of how the shrouded, churning atmosphere of Venus formed and how it maintains the planet's broiler-like temperatures."

6 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Title is misleading by nacnud75 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "ESA to Send Spacecraft to Venus"? They already did, Venus Express launched on 2006-11-09, it arives at Veuns on Tuesday.

  2. Send? How about "sent"? by NoseBag · · Score: 4, Informative

    Is this article a bit late?

    See here:

    http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fa reaid=64

    The thing is due to achieve orbit in a few days.

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    Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
  3. Pictures from the surface of Venus by HoneyBeeSpace · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check out http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_Venus.htm for an excellent archive of the Soviet exploration of Venus.

    Venera 9 sent image telemetry for 50 minutes. It scanned 174 of the panorama from left to right, and then 124 scanning right to left.

    They drilled, photographed, and used penetrometers on the surface. Each mission lasts a few hours to days before the atmosphere crumples the spacecraft like a soda can due to the pressure. Much different than life on Mars!

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    Space and Computers.
  4. Television by heli0 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Discovery Science channel is running a special, "Venus Unveiled", about the planet and this ESA program. It airs several times during the next 2 weeks.

    http://science.discovery.com/tvlistings/episode.js p?episode=0&cpi=117536&gid=0&channel=SCI

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  5. Re:Venus storm footage by bdeclerc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, the view from the surface is surprisingly clear, see these shots made by the Russian Venera 13 lander. Apparently, the bottom kilometers of the atmosphere are actually transparant.

  6. this must be about the limit then... by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Soviets sent probes to Venus a while back and retured pictures. Color pictures in the visible spectrum.

    It has a horizon and due to the extreme fisheye it is perhaps difficult to tell just how far the horizon is, but it appears to be perhaps 10 meters or a bit more.

    http://www.mentallandscape.com/V_DigitalImages.htm

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    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95