Its atmosphere contains sulphuric acid and the surface temperatures is hot enough to melt lead. But it has not always been this way. It is thought Venus started out very similar to the Earth. So what happened? We can use models which plot the atmospheric extremes of Venus, and compare the results to what we see back home. But, the extreme surface conditions are one of the reasons planetary exploration missions have avoided Venus.
The high temperature means a very high pressure of 90 bars equivalent to roughly one kilometre underwater which is enough to instantly crush most planetary landers.
Most of the exploration done so far was carried out by the then Soviet Union between the s and the s. But it managed to transmit 20 minutes of data back to Earth.
The first surface images were taken by Venera 9, followed by Veneras 10, 13 and It includes a descent probe, meaning it will be dropped through the atmosphere, taking measurements as it goes. But Venus is a fascinating planet, with mysteries and potential all of its own. Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in. Ashley Spindler , University of Hertfordshire.
Read more: Nasa has announced two missions to Venus by — here's why that's exciting IVO was designed to perform multiple fly-bys of the moon and use a suite of instruments to map the activity on and below the surface. The ice giants The least explored and understood planets are Uranus and Neptune, and they are home to some of the most bizarre things in the solar system. CubeSats and SmallSats. Status past. Date Type Orbiter. Flyby Spacecraft. Technology Demonstration. Voyager went on to make the first flybys of Uranus, where it discovered 10 new moons, and Neptune, where it found that Neptune actually weighs less than astronomers thought.
Both Voyager crafts have enough power to keep transmitting radio signals until at least , and are now exploring the very edge of the solar system and beginning of interstellar space. Voyager 2 is currently the farthest man-made object from Earth, at more than a hundred times the distance from the Earth to the sun, and more than twice as far as Pluto.
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe WMAP , launched in , may not be as well-known, but it measures with unprecedented accuracy the temperature of the radiation left over from the Big Bang. By mapping out the fluctuations in the so-called cosmic microwave background radiation, the spacecraft has heralded a leap forward in cosmological theories about the nature and origin of the universe.
Among other revelations, the data from WMAP revealed a much more precise estimate for the age of the universe? Another spacecraft with a profound effect on cosmology and astrophysics is the Spitzer Space Telescope, which observed the heavens through infrared light.
This light, which has a longer wavelength than visual light, is mostly blocked by Earth's atmosphere. In addition to taking gorgeous photos of galaxies, nebulae and stars, the telescope has made numerous groundbreaking scientific discoveries.
In Spitzer became the first telescope to detect light from extrasolar planets most of these distant worlds are detected only through secondary, gravitational effects on their suns. In another observation, astronomers think the telescope may have even captured light from some of the first stars born in the universe. Intended for just a day mission, these workhorse Mars rovers have far outdone themselves, and are still chugging away on the red planet more than five years after landing.
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