Venus, the so-called evil twin of Earth, has been largely ignored by NASA for the past 30 years because many scientists thought it was a “dead” planet.
But the US space agency now plans to send two new $ 500m (£ 352m) probes to Venus, and shared a video of what would happen if one of them landed on its surface in the early 2000s.
It allows viewers to travel through the planet’s gusting atmosphere to learn about the scientific experiments the DAVINCI + spacecraft will conduct on its way to land in hell.
Earlier this year, NASA executive Bill Nelson said two missions to the planet were expected to begin within the next 10 years.
We have a lot of questions about Venus. ⁇
The # Da Vinci Mission Heading to Venus in 2029, he aims to unravel the mysterious past of our planetary sister. Was Venus once like Earth? How did the planet form? We hope the five instruments on board the spacecraft will answer these questions and more. pic.twitter.com/EyTOw5foeP
– NASA Goddard (NASAGoddard) November 10, 2021
One of them, called Veritas, orbits Venus and maps the surface through its dense clouds.
The goal is to understand the planet’s geographical history and explore why it is so different from Earth. It can also detect whether volcanoes and earthquakes still occur on Venus.
But DAVINCI + (Venus’s Deep Atmosphere Investigation of Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) will actually go one step further by landing the planet.
When it falls to the surface, high-tech research will measure the planet’s pouring atmosphere and understand how it formed and formed.
It also aims to determine whether the solar system has the warmest planet, Venus-Ocean, with a surface temperature of 900 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius).
Kyada Arne, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, says, “Venus is waiting for us, and Da Vinci + is ready to take us out and ignite the new Venus renaissance.”
DAVINCI + is scheduled to ship to Venus in 2029, one year after Veritas.
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First, the spacecraft will fly both of the planet to explore its atmosphere and night surface. You will notice how the clouds change over time and try to identify a mysterious chemical that absorbs ultraviolet light.
It also searches for gases in the atmosphere, such as helium, neon, argon, and krypton.
During night time work, the planet’s emitting its absorbed heat, drawing the study surface in infrared light in an attempt to understand how the strange mountains of the world formed.
In seven months on two flyovers, the spacecraft will descend one hour through the clouds and send data to the Alpha Regio landing site.
It detects the composition, temperature, pressure and air in each layer of Venus’ atmosphere.
Heading towards the surface, DAVINCI + is expected to display the first high-resolution images of the planet’s “mosaic” geographical features in alpha regio.
Scientists believe these features can be compared to those on Earth’s continents, and may indicate the presence of the Venus plate tectonics.
Through its work, Arne said the study will show humans “how to stand on the surface of Venus.”
Findings from this diverse database will tell us if Venus really lives.
Source: Daily Mail
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