ON THE WEB: FINDING ANSWERS TO THE MYSTERIES OF VENUS
by Hazed
We’ve visited the moon. We’ve sent numerous landers and rovers to Mars. But we don’t know much at all about Venus, so there are plans to send missions there to check it out.
In many ways, Venus is Earth’s twin – it’s a similar size, composition and distance from the sun. But something went wrong and the planet ended up baking hot and inhospitable.
Landing on the planet is a challenge, with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead at 872 °F (467 °C), and an atmosphere full of sulfur dioxide. Previous probes haven’t lasted long after touching down – the record holder being Soviet probe Venera 13 in 1982, which lasted 127 minutes.
This article discusses the problemss and how they might be overcome. Read it here: http://www.pnas.org/content/115/18/4525
