Exploration of Venus
Exploration of Venus
The USSR's program to pierce the compact, cloud-covered atmosphere of Venus found
immense success. Launched in August 1970, Venera 7 survived long enough to
dispatch 23 minutes of temperature data. In 1972, Venera 8 was launched and transmitted
surface data that recorded soil analysis. Venera 9 and 10, in October 1975, arranged
landers on the surface; both probes survived for an hour and dispatched the first pictures of
the Venusian surface. Venera 11 and 12, in 1978, released probes that landed on the
surface of Venus on December 25 and 21, individually. Both probes noted a surface
temperature of 860° F (460° C) and a pressure of 88 atmospheres. Venera 13 and 14 on
March 1 and 5 of 1982, landed on Venus. The craft dispatched pictures of the planet's
exterior and analyzed the chemical composition of the soil and atmosphere. Venera 15 and
16 entered the orbit around Venus on October 10 and 14, 1983, and sent back radar
images; and Vega 1 and 2 in June 1985, en route to Halley's comet, dismissed four probes
into Venus’s atmosphere.
The U.S. Pioneer Venus 1 launched on May 20 and Venus 2 launced on August 8, 1978,
arrived on Venus during December 5 and 9, 1978. The orbiter mapped roughly the entire
exterior of Venus, and the probes studied the movement and composition of the
atmosphere and its connection with the solar wind. In 1989, the Magellan probe was
launched in the direction of Venus from a spacecraft and began transmitting
photographs of Venus in August 1990.
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