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Photos from the Surface of Venus (1982)
- surfsvammel 6y agoThat’s cool. I did not know that. So we have one blue planet, one yellow planet and one red planet. It amazes me that the planets in the solar system are so different.
- aero-glide2 6y agoYour comment reminded me of this breathtaking composite : https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/g6llys/pictures_taken_from_venus_earth_the_moon_mars/ https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/g6llys/p...
- wiz21c 6y agoAll these deserts render Earth as super incredible.
- jessriedel 6y agoPerhaps there is some sound analysis that can be to extract usual info from that audio track, but as far as my ears can tell it's just brown noise. It's like reading the output of a RNG that operated on the surface of Venus; it's hard to say you've learned anything about the planet. (I mean, you've learned the average sound level is above some threshold, but that was pretty obvious from the windspeed data!)
- shireboy 6y agoWas sitting here wondering that. Are some of those sounds from the lander? Sounds like lots of wind and some mechanical sounds - or perhaps metal being corroded by sulfuric acid and excruciating heat.
- tokai 6y agoYeah there are sounds from the lander. From the drill and a lens cap coming off with explosive bolts I think. Edit: This video have tags for events in the audio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Ife6iBdsU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Ife6iBdsU
- jessriedel 6y agoGreat find! Of course, (as you say) other than uniform wind static you can basically only hear the sound of the drill and explosive bolts brought by the probe. Still, I was surprised to learn the windspeed at the surface is so slow.
- bpodgursky 6y agoIt's disappointing that the NASA model of space exploration (few, expensive, long-lived complicated devices) means that we'll probably not get better pictures of the surface of Venus for quite a while. They just aren't going to fund a $500mm lander that lives for 4 hours. If SpaceX had the money, I'm sure they would throw a lander a month at Venus, iterating on the longevity and quality. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.
- crazydoggers 6y agoI don’t think that’s a fair assessment. It’s not just about the cost, but about what science could be done. Much of the basic science has already been done by Venera, Mariner, Pioneer, and Magellan (Magellan providing a gravitational map of the entire surface of Venus). Here’s a list of the many missions to Venus [1] So future missions not only need to justify costs, but actually overcome some pretty extraordinary engineering problems of doing science in such conditions. If you look at Mars for instance, where conditions are placid by comparison, we still have failures. The Insight lander for instance failed to dig into the Martian surface due to underestimating the friction of the surface material. So think of Mars as a learning tool for future space exploration. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Venus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Venus
- bpodgursky 6y agoGiven that we're dozens of landers down on Mars — many of them modern — and we still have a ton to learn about the soil and history (ie, we are still landing science rovers there, as recently as this week), it doesn't really make sense to me that a few probes from the 80s have done all the on-the-ground science we want to do on Venus.
- est31 6y agoEven on earth we have still lots to learn about its geology, and 100% of our geologists live on its surface. It never stops. Each answered questions opens two new ones.
- 6y ago
- rdiddly 6y agoMost people in America didn't know about the Venera program, including me who was at the peak of my adolescent interest in "space stuff" at the time. I don't know whether to blame it on Russia's tendency not to publicize failed missions, or an American tendency to ignore or suppress news of successful Russian ones. So I just blame it generically on "Cold War bullshit" and figure I'm covered either way.
- 01100011 6y agoLast night I was talking to a mechanical engineer friend who worked at JPL and he didn't know about the Venera program! I like to bring up Venus whenever Mars is in the news. It's so much more interesting to me than the tiny, dark dust bowl we keep probing.
- basementcat 6y agoNot everyone at JPL knows about every single space mission anyone has ever launched. Not everyone at Apple has the OSX syscall table memorized. Not everyone at Exxon knows about every single oil field.
- Teever 6y agoI don't think that's the right way to look at it. It's more like Apple OS developers not knowing about real-time operating systems or Exxon employees not knowing about off-shore drilling rigs. There's stuff you should just know about if you're in a field even if you're not familiar with it or an expert in it.
- elihu 6y agoIn a sense, Mars is interesting just because it's boring. As in, compared to the other planets besides Earth it's perhaps the most benign environment for humans to possibly settle. Settling Venus is also possible, but it's less accessible due to the Earth-like gravity well, and it's easier to imagine humans living relatively comfortably and self-sufficiently in a Martian Hobbit hole than on giant zeppelins in the atmosphere of Venus. Venus is more mysterious simply because it's harder to see surface features under that atmosphere and the conditions on the surface are very strange and hard to imagine.
- mthwl 6y agoThese are composites, not the actual photos, if I recall correctly. The perspective is shifted and I guess the horizon is just inferred from the corners? I haven’t found great, high-res sources, but the real photos are on the Venera Smithsonian page here: https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/web12184-2011640jpg https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/web12184-20116...
- aimor 6y agoI really liked this explanation of how the photos were transmit. I believe Don Mitchell was able to find the original data files for some of the transmissions and rebuild the photos in higher quality: http://mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm http://mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm
- nine_k 6y agoThis is incredible. Process transmissions sent 40 years ago by a foreign spacecraft, make better-than-official pictures.
- aero-glide2 6y agoWe have photos from the surface Titan too! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Huygens_surface_color_sr.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Huygens_surface_color_sr....
- divbzero 6y agoIt’s cool how rocks on Venus, Mars, and Titan are all quite recognizable. You could easily imagine those photos being taken somewhere on Earth.
- wiz21c 6y agoAt the same time these are all so barren... It's somehow frightening to me.
- egfx 6y agothen how about this one from the surface of a comet https://imgur.com/fWvd3wS https://imgur.com/fWvd3wS
- sephamorr 6y agoSemi-related: I don't know about this image in particular, but many images taken off-Earth have their white balance adjusted so they look the way they would under Earth lighting. I'm aware this is done frequently for images from Mars, where the images are adjusted so Geologists can compare Martian rock colors to those of their Earth experience.
- saagarjha 6y agoAll the more confirmation that weathering exist on other planets.
- boulos 6y agoIf you enjoy Soviet space exploration and Venus in particular, follow Don Mitchell’s “archaeology” in the area. His old website [1] still has great things on it, but he’s since moved to Twitter unfortunately [2]. But at least posting this has let me see that Don is getting back into rendering (albeit I’m sure it’s for his space interests [3]). [1] http://mentallandscape.com/V_DigitalImages.htm http://mentallandscape.com/V_DigitalImages.htm [2] https://mobile.twitter.com/donaldm38768041 https://mobile.twitter.com/donaldm38768041 [3] https://mobile.twitter.com/DonaldM38768041/status/1362219784452984834 https://mobile.twitter.com/DonaldM38768041/status/1362219784...
- jiofih 6y agoHow did they recover the data? Was it transmitted through the thick atmosphere?
- gene-h 6y ago32 cm band transmission to an orbiter as a relay[0]. The atmosphere of Venus is thick, but does not strongly absorb radio and microwave frequencies. Even the clouds on Venus really aren't all that thick. [0]http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/radioind/MVradio/MVradio.htm http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/radioind/MVradio/MVradio.htm
- codeulike 6y agoNice artists impression of the Venera 9 lander on the surface https://iaaa.org/venera-9-on-venus/ https://iaaa.org/venera-9-on-venus/ The design of the lander is fascinating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_9 edit: An an artists impression of Venera 13 https://www.planetary.org/space-images/artists-impression-of-venera-13-1 https://www.planetary.org/space-images/artists-impression-of...
- akiselev 6y agoFeels weird seeing a (1982) tag on an article pointing to a twitter URL
- gene-h 6y agoTechnically the Venera probe itself didn't melt. The solder in its electronics did. Higher temperature solder could have been used, but this would not have made a difference in the end because silicon stops behaving as a semiconductor past a certain temperature. Silicon carbide does not though and we're starting to make ICs that can function at Venusian temperatures. Even the venerable 555 timer/comparator has been made to function at Venusian temperatures[0]. [0]https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8782125 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8782125
- cout 6y agoWonderful use of the word venerable.
- interestica 6y ago>Venera > Even the venerable... Ha. Did you do that on purpose? I swear I remember reading about "lenses made of diamonds" when I was a kid but I can't find anything now.
- ridgeguy 6y agoThere are diamond lenses [1]. They could be just the thing for Venus, which may have sulphuric acid rain. Diamond has no known equilibrium chemical reactivity below about 550 deg C. [1] http://ndtcompany.com/products/diamond_lenses/ http://ndtcompany.com/products/diamond_lenses/
- nostromo 6y agoWe should give up on landers and start sending weather balloons to Venus. The upper atmosphere is very earthlike.
- nine_k 6y agoWe do, since 1985 at least.
- aml183 6y agoIf you are a fan of the-space industry, check out my newsletter Payload. Once a week I send a newsletter covering the business of space. It includes business news, satellite launches, fundraising and more. Feel free to sign up below. http://payloadresearch.com http://payloadresearch.com
- pvaldes 6y agoThe comparison of the surface in several planets, moons and asteroids is really beautiful.
- spaetzleesser 6y agoIs anybody aware of an approach to build a probe that can least much longer on Venus? The pressure can probably be handled but how do you handle the heat?
- nine_k 6y agoBatteries, wires, semiconductors, insulators that can work at 600°C are known. Magnets and with them electric motors are harder, neodymium magnets stop working, but you can still do with iron and cobalt magnets. Generating power is also tricky, I have no idea how dark it is below the clouds, because all the photos are obviously adjusted to the dynamic range of displays. Possibly a nuclear-powered Stirling engine could just work, using some metal or salt with an appropriate boiling point. You can cover the exterior metal parts of your craft with something like gold or platinum to protect against the acids. This seems doable, but looks like much, much more work than a Mars lander which needs to operate in conditions similar to Antarctica, rather well studied and easily replicated.