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Compared to Earth, our astronomical next-door neighbor Venus is 95 percent as large, 28 percent closer to the sun, and almost identical in planetary composition. However, if one wished to spend a day on Venus’s surface—from one sunrise to the next—one would be confronted with a considerable array of hindrances and novelties.
Assuming one could weather the journey through sulfuric acid clouds to reach the surface, survive the lead-melting heat, withstand the air pressure comparable to an ocean depth of 800 meters, and remain stationary against the constant thick breeze, the sun would not actually be visible as a single point, because all sunlight is diffused by a planet-wide cover of nearly opaque clouds.
The sun would be rising in the west rather than the east because Venus is “retrograde,” rotating in the direction opposite the sun and most of the other planets in the solar system. One hypothesis suggests that the planet was once “prograde” like most of the others, but that its spin was reversed by two massive planetoid impacts billions of years ago. Another hypothesis suggests that Venus’s original prograde spin was unstable due to the fact that the planet’s core, mantle, and atmosphere all move at different rates. Friction between these layers may have induced an increasing wobble on the entire planet, ultimately causing Venus to flip over. If that hypothesis is accurate, Venus is upside-down rather than backwards.
Venus’s rotation is also very slow. A full-day visit to Venus’s equator would include 1,401 hours of uninterrupted sunlight—or about 58 Earth days. At this rate, a fast jog would be enough to keep the sun-blob stationary in the sky. After sunset, one would observe another 1,401 hours of darkness, though there would be no change in temperature after dark—Venus has become isothermal due to the greenhouse effect, having an average temperature of 788°F (420°C) at every point on the planet: both poles and the equator, day and night. The coolest point on the planet’s surface is at the peak of its tallest mountain, Maxwell Montes, where the temperature drops to about 719°F (382°C). There, one might observe a heavy metal “snow” of lead sulfide and bismuth sulfide.
Venus completes an orbit of the Sun every 224.7 Earth days, so a Venusian year is almost—but not quite—two Venusian days in length.
In the 1970s, the Soviet Union sent a series of ‘Venera’ probes to Venus with various scientific instruments. The heat and pressure plagued the probes with problems, and their operating times on the surface were measured in mere minutes. On 22 October 1975, Venera 9 became the first probe to return images from the surface of another planet, surviving for almost an hour, owing to a sophisticated liquid cooling system.
During the space race, the United States also had a Venus visit in mind. In the mid-1960s, NASA designed a manned flyby mission to Venus using modified Apollo hardware. Launch was scheduled for Halloween 1973, with a Venus fly-by set for 03 March 1974, and return to Earth on 01 December 1974. After liftoff, the astronauts would have a roughly one hour window to abort the mission in the event of a problem, after which time they would lack the fuel to return to Earth by any means other than a slingshot around Venus. The mission was scrapped due to budget constraints.
In 2020 scientists reported the discovery of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere, which could be an indicator for airborne microbial life. However these data did not fare well in subsequent review, so it remains likely that Venus is a lifeless planet.
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As always, you included information that is completely new to me, most notably the item about the Soviet Union’s effort.
Didn’t we also send a probe to Venus? If my memory is correct, it either burned up in the atmosphere or crashed on the surface.
This is odd. I left a comment yesterday, and it does not appear today. This one is a test to see if it will remain.
(Ok. Now I will try my post of yesterday.)
As always, the article contains information that is new to me, most notably the item about the Soviet Union’s effort.
My memory might be wrong, but I recall that we also sent a probe to Venus. Ours, though, either burned up upon entry or crashed on the surface.
@JarvisLoop: These days all of our comments are moderated due to two factors:
1) There has been an onslaught of spambots trying to post their links in our comments; and
2) Most people these days want to comment via social media rather than on the site itself.
It reached a point where it became easier to just manually approve the comments from humans. This means that comments won’t appear right away. Immediately after posting it should show you a preview, but if you come back the comment won’t show up until an admin has flagged it as originating from meatspace.
Regarding US missions to Venus, we have had multiple fly-bys and orbiters, but nothing intended to send back data from the surface. In 1978 the US did send a group of five probes into the atmosphere of Venus (Pioneer Venus 2), and one of them did send back telemetry data briefly after crashing, but apparently these were never intended to continue operating on the surface. I’d wager that’s the mission you recall.
Mr. Bellows:
Thanks for the explanation. I was unaware of the change in practices. I was unaware that most readers on posting on social media. Of course, that’s because I don’t use most social media, most especially Facebook. Is Facebook the one that most readers are using, or is it another?
In regard to the US probe, I agree. That must be the one that I remember.
until an admin has flagged it as originating from meatspace
Carlos:
“…meatspace…”
I like that term. Perfect description of humans.