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Venus is so strangely ignored and forgotten. Measured against the attention other planets are getting, an orbiting reconnaissance platform with a handfull of at

Venus is so strangely ignored and forgotten. Measured against the attention other planets are getting, an orbiting reconnaissance platform with a handfull of atmosphere and surface probes would seem long overdue.

hawski 9y ago
Are Uranus, Neptune and Mercury getting significantly more attention? Personally I feel that Venus is getting more attention that any of them.
- wallace_f 9y ago
  Interestingly, there is actually a case to be made that Venus may be more feasible to colonize than Mars. It has been argued the lack of attention to Venus has more to due culture than science. PBS Spacetime did an episode on this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ5KV3rzuag https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ5KV3rzuag
rdtsc 9y ago
Well one reason is because it's so hot there there is almost no chance to find life or to build a station there. Also I wonder if it is because the Russians set to explore it, landed a probe on it and all. So maybe then it became uninteresting to follow in their footsteps. Just like the Russians stopped sending rovers to the moon once Americans landed there.
- vacri 9y ago
  Not just the heat, but also the sulphuric acid rain and the 90atm of pressure. I do find it odd though, that this curious planet with heaps of activity is so often 'passed over' by space nerds. Curiously, the earliest out-of-lab digital photography that I'm aware of was from that Russian probe to Venus in the 70's, which lasted less than an hour in the hostile atmosphere. Photos: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/VN_Venera_9_Lander_page1.html https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/VN_Vene...
- gambiting 9y ago
  It has the interesting property of about 50km above the surface being the only place in the solar system - other than Earth obviously - where a human being could survive without a space suit, just with an oxygen supply. The pressure and temperature are exactly like on a normal Earth day(1atm and around 0-20C). Floating barges high up in Venus atmosphere have been suggested previously.
  - turk184 9y ago
    Does that not consider all the sulfuric acid or is that not a problem at the 1 Bar altitude?
nikdaheratik 9y ago
Japan has an orbiter there already (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akatsuki_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akatsuki_(spacecraft) ), though it had a few bumps getting into orbit on the way over. However, the environment is very hostile, which makes a rover a much more difficult proposition. Also it's actually more difficult to move towards the inner planets because you can't easily use gravitational slingshots to help save fuel (and for other reasons).

hawski 9y ago

Are Uranus, Neptune and Mercury getting significantly more attention? Personally I feel that Venus is getting more attention that any of them.

wallace_f 9y ago
Interestingly, there is actually a case to be made that Venus may be more feasible to colonize than Mars. It has been argued the lack of attention to Venus has more to due culture than science. PBS Spacetime did an episode on this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ5KV3rzuag https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ5KV3rzuag

rdtsc 9y ago

Well one reason is because it's so hot there there is almost no chance to find life or to build a station there. Also I wonder if it is because the Russians set to explore it, landed a probe on it and all. So maybe then it became uninteresting to follow in their footsteps. Just like the Russians stopped sending rovers to the moon once Americans landed there.

vacri 9y ago
Not just the heat, but also the sulphuric acid rain and the 90atm of pressure. I do find it odd though, that this curious planet with heaps of activity is so often 'passed over' by space nerds. Curiously, the earliest out-of-lab digital photography that I'm aware of was from that Russian probe to Venus in the 70's, which lasted less than an hour in the hostile atmosphere. Photos: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/VN_Venera_9_Lander_page1.html https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/VN_Vene...
gambiting 9y ago
It has the interesting property of about 50km above the surface being the only place in the solar system - other than Earth obviously - where a human being could survive without a space suit, just with an oxygen supply. The pressure and temperature are exactly like on a normal Earth day(1atm and around 0-20C). Floating barges high up in Venus atmosphere have been suggested previously.
- turk184 9y ago
  Does that not consider all the sulfuric acid or is that not a problem at the 1 Bar altitude?

nikdaheratik 9y ago

Japan has an orbiter there already (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akatsuki_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akatsuki_(spacecraft) ), though it had a few bumps getting into orbit on the way over. However, the environment is very hostile, which makes a rover a much more difficult proposition. Also it's actually more difficult to move towards the inner planets because you can't easily use gravitational slingshots to help save fuel (and for other reasons).