Questions tagged [venus]

Questions regarding the second planet from the Sun.

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How will the DAVINCI probe manage its temperature during the descent to Venus' surface?

The DAVINCI mission, arriving at Venus in 2031, includes a probe that will collect data as it descends through the planet's atmosphere. The descent will take about an hour and Stephanie Getty, deputy ...
Dave Gremlin's user avatar
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2 votes
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What orbital inclination of a HAVOC mothership would optimize the success of an abort-to-orbit?

In Phase 3 of NASA’s HAVOC proposed mission for a buoyant probe to the Venusian atmosphere, a crewed atmospheric probe de-orbits from an orbiting mothership. The probe is a solar-electric propelled ...
Woody's user avatar
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2 votes
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What is the optimal planetary sunshade arrangement?

To cool a planet down, one may place a sunshade between the planet and the Sun. On its own, this is not stable due to radiation pressure, so a simple scheme like a big circular piece of aluminium foil ...
SE - stop firing the good guys's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
266 views

What would Venus look like without acid clouds?

Despite its unpleasant surface conditions, Venus is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful worlds in the solar system when viewed from space. It’s huge clouds of sulphuric acid make the planet ...
user50946's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
87 views

Is the net electric charge of Venus about 0.01 Coulombs?

A few years ago Venus was measured to be at a surprisingly large electric potential of $\Phi_{Venus}=+10.6$ volts, which may be one of the reasons Venus lost its water. Does this mean that Venus has a ...
David Bailey's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
97 views

Was it possible to do a course correction on the planned manned Venus flyby?

Once the burn was complete, any remaining propellant would be vented to space, and then the larger fuel tank could be used as living space, while the smaller oxygen tank would be used for waste ...
The Rocket fan's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
481 views

What are the calculations for the time it would take to create a minus 50⁰ C liquid CO2 ocean on Venus by shielding it totally from the Sun?

Cooling down Venus will probably be by far the most efficient method to start terraforming the planet because then you wouldn't have to deal with the high temperatures and pressures at its surface. I'...
Cornelis's user avatar
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What happened to Mariner 2 after it flew by Venus?

I found myself wondering about what ever had happened to the Mariner 2 spacecraft (the first successful flyby of any planet) after it flew by planet Venus. According to apesinspace.co it "...
Deko Revinio's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
100 views

How far could we see (horizontally), floating inside the acid clouds of Venus at 56 km and at 51 km height above the surface?

Screenshot of Fig. 4 in the article The microphysics of the clouds of Venus: Results of the Pioneer Venus Particle Size Spectrometer Experiment From the Wikipedia section about the troposphere of ...
Cornelis's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
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Would it be practical to fly a probe to Mars using gravitational assistance from Venus?

I decided to fly to Mars in KSP using a slingshot of Venus to see if I could save fuel. Since Venus is closer to Earth, you need less fuel to get there. When I tested it I used less fuel, but the ...
The Rocket fan's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
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With and without refilling at LEO, how much more than the landers weight of the Venera 9 mission could a Starship deliver near a pole of Venus?

Venera 9 was a Soviet space mission to Venus that consisted of an orbiter and lander with a launch mass of 4936 kg and with an entry mass of 1560 kg. It was the first spacecraft to return an image ...
Cornelis's user avatar
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3 answers
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How brightly does Venus's hot surface glow at night? Could you see it? Could you see well enough to walk around?

NASA's Parker Solar Probe Captures its First Images of Venus' Surface in Visible Light, Confirmed links to the new Geophysical Research Letter Parker Solar Probe Imaging of the Night Side of Venus. ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Fjeldbo, Kliore, & Eshleman 1971 Fig. 22 planetary atmosphere index of refraction increasing with altitude; physics insight or convenient abstraction?

this answer to Is it possible for a spacecraft to communicate with Earth when a planet is in the way? suggesting that atmospheric refraction could be used to get at least some kind of signal around a ...
uhoh's user avatar
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What are the moving particles that can be seen by the Parker Solar Probe?

There ate two images below from the Parker Probe, one of Venus and the second from the Sun. The second one is a screenshot from a recent video (Youtube of Parker imagery while in solar corona). In ...
KingsInnerSoul's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
171 views

How did Venus Express' periapsis decay so quickly?

ESA's Venus Express ran out of propellant in late 2014 and has probably decayed out of orbit since then. A timeline of events from my research for my answer to Are there currently any spacecraft in ...
BrendanLuke15's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Are there currently any spacecraft in orbit around Venus that might (or might not) be at risk of meteoric dust from comet Leonard C/2021 A?

Astronomer Shreyas Vissapragada @astroshrey ​tweeted Check out the latest from @aciqra, @Yeqzids, et al (including myself!) on C/2021 A1 (Leonard) and its close approach to Venus: Preview of Comet C/...
uhoh's user avatar
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2 votes
5 answers
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feasibility of a Venusian floating habitat

I think these are some strong reasons which would support a Venusian floating habitat Venusian clouds have sulphuric acid and more than 96 % Carbon dioxide. Does this ensures a constant supply of ...
8A 26 KSHITIJ .S .DEEPAK's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
196 views

Impact Venus with Comet Leonard?

do we have the means to slightly alter Comet Leonard's trajectory so it impacts Venus instead of 'grazing' it in December 2021??
user38561's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
147 views

Which are the current Near-Earth comets that have the closest approach to Venus?

A comment from @planetmaker to this question gives this link to the Minor Planet Centre (MPC) to find a list with Near-Earth comets. Here's the list with orbits for current comets on that site, but I ...
Cornelis's user avatar
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How much ice from the most suitable icy moon(let) could a spacecraft, launched with an SLS Block 2, transport to the upper atmosphere of Venus?

When starting to terraform Venus, working people there would have to live first in the upper atmosphere for a long, long time because there are the most Earth like conditions. But the water there is ...
Cornelis's user avatar
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6 votes
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Premature detonation of explosive bolts when landing on hot Venus?

@Uwe's comment below Parachute material used for the Venera probes to survive 500 °C raises an interesting issue. Venus is really hot, and pyrotechnic actuators (e.g. explosive bolts, frangible ...
uhoh's user avatar
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How did the Venera Probes manage to safely descend to the surface of Venus?

I have a two part question in reference to the answers provided for the linked question below: Why did the Venera missions land so close together? The answer stated: ”Not only did they land near local ...
Matthew Brubach's user avatar
14 votes
1 answer
542 views

Parachute material used for the Venera probes to survive 500 °C

The Venera landers of the former Soviet Union were quite successful on the very hot surface of Venus. Which material was used for the parachutes to survive 500 °C? What about cotton wool? Yes this ...
Uwe's user avatar
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7 votes
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Can I observe a Venus transit before 2117 from a spacecraft in the Earth-Moon neighbourhood?

The Astronomy SE side of things is clear: The next Venus transit is in 2117. Good things they come in pairs, the 2004 had too many clouds for me, but 2012 was excellent. That means I will not see a ...
SE - stop firing the good guys's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
141 views

Is Geothermal Cooling on Venus Possible?

Would geothermal type cooling be possible for a stationary base on the surface of Venus? Would the subsoil temperature of Venus hotter or cooler than the atmospheric temperature? (464C / 867F average ...
Dan Sorensen's user avatar
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17 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is the subsurface temperature profile of Venus?

Venus's surface is hot. If we dig and cover ourselves with regolith, will the temperature increase or decrease as we dig? If decrease, how far would we have to dig in order to have reasonable (say ...
Michael Stachowsky's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
62 views

Could the phosphorus in phosphine in the Venus atmosphere probably produced by cosmic ray spallation of sulfur? [closed]

Reading the following questions and their answers: Why wasn't the phosphine in Venus' atmosphere detected by space probes? Phosphine, yes -- but where are the organic compounds on Venus? the ...
Kav's user avatar
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Why is there currently so little talk about a Venus gravity assist for a crewed Mars mission?

I just came across this video about manned Mars and Venus missions that were planned in the 1960s. They considered a Venus flyby the best way to get humans to Mars. Indeed, there are also modern ...
KarlKastor's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Has Akatsuki searched for phosphine in Venus?

The Akatsuki orbiter is never mentioned in articles about the phosphine discovery, does it have the capability to detect it and has it tried?
qazwsx's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
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Why is the Venus Climate Orbiter also called Planet-C?

The Venus Climate Orbiter is also known as Akatsuki and Planet-C. Why is a Venus spacecraft called Planet-C? Venus is the second planet from the Sun, but C is the third letter of the alphabet.
DrSheldon's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Venus probe with refrigerated electronics powered by an RTG (more like the Mars rovers)

Because of the very high surface temperatures on Venus (~450 oC) conventional semiconductor electronics will not work. Discussion of surface probes to Venus talk about using vacuum electronics, ...
Roger Wood's user avatar
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18 votes
3 answers
4k views

What if a Space Shuttle entered the atmosphere of Venus?

How would a U.S. Space Shuttle's atmospheric entry on Venus differ from reentry on Earth? Say there's a Space Shuttle in a low Venus orbit performing a (re-)entry burn. How would the following ...
Greenhorn's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
265 views

Why is there no plan for a Venus orbiter by ESA or NASA?

A rather complete-looking Wikipedia List of solar system probes enumerates only a few proposed future missions to Venus: Reading popular science magazines suggests that it would make sense to go ...
B--rian's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
225 views

How do space agencies choose arrival dates to planets (i.e. Mercury) from a gravity assist (i.e. Venus)?

Assuming I was looking for arrival opportunities from 2020 to 2030, how can I calculate the possible arrival dates to Mercury given a departure date from a gravity assist from Venus?
John's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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What are ALL the characteristics for for human habitability of worlds?

We've got a good head start at our original table here, but is there anything else we need or have missed that impact on human habitability of worlds? It's helpful to compare and contrast places in ...
StarshipVenus's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
77 views

What's the current state of Venus orbital infrastructure?

As per this Wikipedia article there have been a total of 5 orbiters successfully deployed to Venus: Venera-15 Venera-16 Magellan Venus Express Akatsuki Of which only the Akatsuki seems to be ...
Krumuvecis's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
304 views

Vacuum tube microchips for Venus probe; feasibility and challenges?

Venus surface temperature is around 460 °C which makes conventional semiconductors useless. So nasa proposed a clockwork rover, drawing power from wind and using springs and gears to navigate the ...
Andrew Butenko's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
840 views

What is the closest distance a human being has come to Venus ever since the beginning of the space age?

In line with this question, ever since we started space exploration, what is the closest a living human being has come to Venus? All I can find on this matter is that the closest distance Venus and ...
user177107's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
198 views

Arrhenius' calculation of the temperature of Venus

In this answer, we learn that in the early 1900s, Nobel Prize winner Svante Arrhenius believed that Venus was covered in lush swamps. His book on this matter, "the destinies of the stars", ...
Wouter's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
359 views

How to determine heat transfer for survival on Venus?

I'm trying to determine how long a probe could survive on Venus' surface. Assuming its just a sphere of titanium with room temperature air inside, what would be the best method for determining the ...
Halen's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
851 views

What does the discovery of phosphine mean for the future of venusian exploration? [closed]

There have been proposals (1, 2, 3, 4,...) to send probes into the atmosphere of Venus, but these proposals haven't been selected by space agencies to fly. Some balloons were sent in the 80's, but ...
usernumber's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
474 views

Is the surface environment of Venus corrosive?

Venus famously has clouds of concentrated sulfuric acid in its upper atmosphere. Frequently I will see posts here citing the acidity of the atmosphere as a challenge to probes on the surface (such as &...
Mark Foskey's user avatar
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13 votes
1 answer
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How certain are we that we have not accidentally sent life to other planets/moons?

Recently phosphine was discovered on Venus, and that led to some speculation that life exists on Venus because phosphine is a known biosignature on Earth. Considering that we've sent probes to Venus ...
Allure's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
317 views

Why did the Soviet Union stop exploring Venus in 1985?

Wikipedia has a list of missions to Venus. The Soviet Union has the first and highest number of both attempts and successful missions to Venus. Starting in 1961, they often attempted more than one ...
DrSheldon's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
2k views

What altitude would an aphrodiosynchronous satellite need?

A geosynchronous orbit has a period of 24 hours, and mostly stays over the same location on the surface of the Earth. According to this blogger, the equivalent term for Venus should be "...
DrSheldon's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
242 views

What is the Opaque Component of Venus' Atmosphere

My understanding is that carbon dioxide makes up the majority of the Venusian atmosphere, and carbon dioxide is transparent. Even liquid CO2 is transparent! Yet despite this Venus is enveloped in a ...
Tom J Nowell's user avatar
25 votes
1 answer
4k views

What would the Venus landers look like today?

Between 1966 and 1985, several probes, mostly of Soviet design, successfully landed on Venus. Many of them continued operating long enough to send back audio, images, and various measurements, though ...
Psychonaut's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
75 views

How did 20 radio observatories track balloons of the 1985 Venus-Halley (VeGa) mission in Venus' superrotating winds at an altitude of about 54 km?

Links in Phys.org's recent The detection of phosphine in Venus' clouds is a big deal, and here's how we can find out if it really is life lead to: Aerial Platforms for the Scientific Exploration of ...
uhoh's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
3k views

A balloon in the Venus atmosphere?

Was there any proposal or study for a balloon in the Venus atmosphere? A spacecraft can enter in the atmosphere and inflate a balloon to fly for a few days or weeks. That can help collecting a lot of ...
Joe Jobs's user avatar
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20 votes
1 answer
3k views

Was Venus once seriously believed to be lush under its cloud cover?

Mars was once believed to have canals, and some astronomers seriously argued that they were artificial. The atmosphere of Venus was first observed in 1761. Wikipedia kind of skips over the period ...
Wouter's user avatar
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