It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

Explore Venus or Mercury?

page: 1
0

log in

join
share:

posted on Apr, 30 2005 @ 01:21 PM
link   
Do we have probes orbiting near Venus or Mercury? or any other kinds a explorations that deal with Venus or Mercury? If I remembered correctly Venus is just mostly a gasous planet so theres probably nothing we would want from there however what about Mercury? Do we have plans or even thought about visiting Mercury any time soon? Is Venus and Mercury much farther than Mars? Or are the planets are just too close to the sun and our probes/satellites will melt before it even reaches them?



posted on Apr, 30 2005 @ 02:50 PM
link   
We've sent probes to every inner planet, so yes we have. Venus is slightly smaller than Earth, but covered in heavy, heavy gases with an absurd atmospheric pressure (100x Earth I think) that make it highly poisonous and the hottest planet in the solar system, followed closely by Mercury.

They're not that 'far,' it's just hard to get probes that can get a lot more data than we have already out there without spending too much. Venus has very little potential as the clouds make it hard to get a signal and the pressure makes sustaining bots hard. Mercury is crazy small, which has it's own problems when it comes to landing.

The probes that reached I believe were the Mariner series, Helios and the Russian Venera series.



posted on Apr, 30 2005 @ 05:12 PM
link   



posted on Apr, 30 2005 @ 05:39 PM
link   
Venus's atmosphere is very corrosive. There are clouds of sulfuric acid in it's atmosphere and it rains sulfuric acid. The russian probe that went there corroded in a very short time.



posted on Apr, 30 2005 @ 07:32 PM
link   
Venus, let's see; if you stepped out on Venus, you'd be crushed by the atmospheric pressure, burned a lot by the 990 degree heat (or melted as there is lava flowing all over the place), struck by lightning most likely from the clouds all over and burned from the sulfuric acid raindrops. You'd also choke to death since you can't breath the air. Wonderful way to die, eh??

So probes on Venus have to be really tough. The toughest ones last sent there I think transmitted data for 30 minutes, then went dead.

Strange to think before probes had seen Venus, scientists thought maybe it was swamp-like, like Yoda's planet in Star Wars, BOY were they surprised at what it really was!



[edit on 30-4-2005 by Broadsword20068]



posted on May, 4 2005 @ 11:44 PM
link   
"But the planet's dense atmosphere is ideal for a flying craft. A wing's lift depends directly on the density of the atmosphere and the atmospheric pressure on Venus is about 90 times that of Earth. After being released by an orbiter, the craft's origami-like wings would unfurl from an "aeroshell" (see Graphic). Solar panels on the craft's surface could absorb large amounts of the intense solar energy, powering motors to allow the craft to fly continuously. And the planet's slow rotation, with one day and night on Venus taking 117 Earth days, means a solar flyer could stay on the daylight side indefinitely."

www.newscientist.com...

I wonder if the plane would look like the one NASA plans on sending to Mars next decade.



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 09:36 AM
link   
Wow i had no idea Venus's rotation was that slow!!!

What are the speeds of other planets??



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 11:23 AM
link   

Originally posted by Broadsword20068
Venus, let's see; if you stepped out on Venus, you'd be crushed by the atmospheric pressure, burned a lot by the 990 degree heat (or melted as there is lava flowing all over the place), struck by lightning most likely from the clouds all over and burned from the sulfuric acid raindrops. You'd also choke to death since you can't breath the air. Wonderful way to die, eh??


Wow, if I decided to check out, this could be a great way indeed


Seriously, Venus is an amazing planet as it helped us advance our understanding of planetary science. First, there was a catastrophic "inversion" which led to the very high temperatures, something we should be aware of when we project the Earth climate. Second, its tectonic structure is amazing, as the planet is "resurfaced" every few million years with fresh lava which then solidifies to form the crust and the actual surface.

It's fascinating stuff, but unless we design a technology to "fix" its atmosphere (might take a few thousand years) going to Venus for the sake of going simply isn't worth it.



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 01:32 PM
link   
I've always wondered if we did have long term probes on Venus or Mercury then would coummunications and electronic functions of the probes be disrupted easier by sun-spots and solar flares then something closer to earth? Does the proximity to the sun make electronics more susceptable to disturbance from sun-spots?



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 01:38 PM
link   

Originally posted by looking4truth
I've always wondered if we did have long term probes on Venus or Mercury then would coummunications and electronic functions of the probes be disrupted easier by sun-spots and solar flares then something closer to earth? Does the proximity to the sun make electronics more susceptable to disturbance from sun-spots?


There are two factors -- the radiation itself and the magnetic disturbance, caused by the distortion of the planet's field by the stream of particles emanating from the Sun. In general, I would expect the conditions to be worse on the planets closer to the Sun, but that would depend on the magnetic field, too.



posted on May, 5 2005 @ 05:37 PM
link   

Originally posted by balon0
What are the speeds of other planets??


Speeds



new topics

top topics



 
0

log in

join