November 9, Europe launches Venus Express on Venus

At 4:33 (Paris time) today 9/11, the European spacecraft called Venus Express will leave the left to reach Venus, at the same time as the Russian Soyouz-Fregat rocket launched from Baïkonour base ( Kazakhstan).

Venus will land on Venus in April 2006 and stay there for 2 days equivalent to 16 months on Earth. The goal of this voyage of Venus is to discover the climatic mysteries as well as geology on Venus.

The researchers learned that the temperature on Venus is about 470 degrees Celsius, the pressure is 90 times higher than the earth, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air is very high, the clouds contain dense sulfurique acide . Although There have been many research programs on Venus, but there are still many mysteries of this planet that people have not discovered. The rapid change in pressure, the greenhouse effect, the volcanic activity on Venus is what researchers want to understand.

With a budget of about 220 million euros, Venus Express spacecraft has made the first step on the planet considered twins with our earth. The amount is large but compared to the huge budget for research programs on the solar system, it is not significant. During the construction of the Venus ship, the European aerospace company (ESA) followed the motto of former NASA leader Daniel Goldin: ' Better, faster, cheaper '. "In 2003, the ESA agreed to spend 1 billion euros on the technology regeneration of the Rosetta spacecraft," said Marcello Coradini, ESA's solar research partner. He added: ' With Venus Express, a record has been set up because the project has been completed in just three and a half years '.

While the two spacecraft are built in the same technology, Venus Express is able to meet the approach of the sun. In particular, the ship's solar panels are designed in a completely new way and have insulating tools. There are about 7 magnetic measuring tools and estimate the pressure leakage in space, 7 ultraviolet observation tools and especially infrared rays.