Venus is not the Venus, but ... hell

The planet is called with very poetic names: Sao Ve Nu, Sao Kim, Sao Hom, Sao Mai . Unfortunately, through the exploration of the space exploration ships, people are getting more and more So, that star is not poetic at all, but in fact it is a hell.

In the near future, the European Space Agency will launch the Venus Express explorer ship to this planet in the first hope of seeing the true face of the Venusian atmosphere 20-35 km thick.

On this flight, Planetary Society, based in California (USA) - the world's largest non-governmental space research encouragement organization - launched a drawing contest titled " Postcards from Venus "( Postcard from Venus ) is for everyone on earth. Contest content: Candidates need to imagine to draw Venus's " landscape pictures " with a view from above. The top prize of the competition was a trip to the European Space Monitoring Center in Darmstadt, Germany, in April next year, from which to follow the exploration ship Venus Express into the orbit of the planet.

But many people believe that this contest has lost its way . 40 years. By the time, there was still a romantic and poetic fantasy about Venus that ended in the 1960s.

Twins

On the journey floating in the infinite universe, Venus is the closest planet to Earth, with the same magnitude and mass as the earth. And at night, the brightness is only lost to the moon. It is classified as the most earth-like planet in the soil structure, but it may not be possible to have life on it, at least not in the familiar form as in our green world.

Surrounded by 90-centimeter thick and heavy carbon, Venus undergoes a pressure of 92 bar - similar to the depth of 900 meters below the seabed, where any normal submarine is crushed like a matchbox. The temperature of 470oC does not allow any water droplets to exist on the red burning surface, filled with molten tin and lead pools located on the lava rock frozen from the erupting volcanoes. The concentration of sulfur and acid will burn all organisms.
For researchers, knowledge of Venus will allow for a better understanding of the history of the solar system and the future of the earth, because what still fights us about the greenhouse effect and the effects In the next few decades, Venus has experienced extreme levels.

However, all knowledge about Venus until 1960 was based only on indirect electromagnetic radar measurement conducted by NASA's Magellan station from close orbit, representing objects with a magnitude of over 100 m.

Hard to receive relatives

On February 12, 1961, the Soviet Venera 1 satellite flew for 100,000 km for the first time from Venus but did not observe anything and lost contact with the control center, because the navigation system was exposed to high temperatures. devastated. Americans are a little more successful with Mariner 2 years later, measuring electromagnetic waves that cause heat and claim that Venus has no magnetic field. Venera 2 caught fire before approaching Venus, and Venera 3 (1966) was the first messenger to reach the surface of this stormy planet, but was immediately destroyed. After Venera 5 and 6 were pressured to crush at an altitude of 18 km, Venera 7 (1970) was the first lucky landing, from which we got "real" images as well as accurate data about heat. degree and pressure, completed by Venera 8 (1972). But it has to wait until the Venera 16 (1982), the geographic map of Venus is considered complete .

Test Venus Express in a vacuum environment Soon, Venus Express will be the European Space Agency's pioneer flight to Venus. Overcoming 41 million kilometers, in April 2006, Venus Express will enter a stable orbit to study Venus's atmosphere and surface for two days (Venus's day is about 500 Earth days!) And if necessary pull it. Two more days. NASA's Messenger spacecraft on the way to Jupiter also flew near Venus in 2006 and 2007. The Japanese space research agency JAXA also plans to launch Planet C in 2008. twins will be crowded, as Russians in the next decade launch the Venera D series following their old achievements.

Now the explorer ships not only tear the cloud around the Morning Star - Morning Star, but will leave a steel aftertaste that makes the imagination less and less develop .

See more: Delaying the launch of satellites on Venus