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A Venus Landing
| Title |
A Venus Landing |
| Explanation |
This image is part of the first color panoramic view from Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950815.html ]. It was transmitted by a TV camera on the Soviet Venera 13 lander which parachuted to the surface [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-venus.html #surface ] on March 1, 1982. Venus' [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950822.html ] clouds are composed of sulfuric acid droplets while its surface temperature is about 900 degrees Fahrenheit (482 degrees C) at an atmospheric pressure of 92 times that of sea-level on Earth. Despite these harsh conditions, the Venera 13 lander [ http://delcano.mit.edu/venera/ ] survived long enough to send back a series of images and perform an analysis of the Venusian soil. Part of the lander itself is visible in the lower right portion of the image. An earlier Soviet Venus lander, Venera 7 [ http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/venera7.html ] (1970), was the first spacecraft to return data from the surface of another planet. |
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A Venusian Landscape
| Title |
A Venusian Landscape |
| Explanation |
This computer generated view of a Venusian volcano was created using data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950825.html ]. Magellan used its onboard radar to map the surface of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950822.html ] which is hidden from telescopic observations by a perpetual cloud cover. Using this radar data to provide three dimensional information, a computer was then able to produce this view of Maat Mons [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/caption/mgn_maat_mons.txt ], a 5 mile high volcano, from a dramatic perspective. The colors used to render the surface are based on earlier color images transmitted by TV cameras on the Soviet Venera 13 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950927.html ] and 14 Venus landers. |
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A Venus Landing
| Title |
A Venus Landing |
| Explanation |
This image [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/v13_vg261_262.html ] is part of the first color panoramic view from Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ]. A TV camera on the Soviet Venera 13 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1981-106D ] lander that parachuted to the surface on 1982 March 1 transmitted it. Venus' [ http://sseforum.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/index.cfm?Display=Venus ] clouds are composed of sulfuric acid [ http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/Sulf&top/Sulf&Top.html ] droplets while its surface temperature is about 482 degrees Celsius [ http://www.astro.uu.se/history/celsius_scale.html ] at an atmospheric pressure of 92 times that of sea-level [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020527.html ] on Earth. Despite these harsh conditions, the Venera [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/venera.html ] 13 lander survived long enough to send back a series of images and perform an analysis of the Venusian soil [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1984pggp.rept...76G ]. Part of the lander itself is visible in the lower right portion of the image. An earlier Soviet [ http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/sutoc.html ] Venus lander, Venera 7 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1970-060A ] (1970), was the first spacecraft to return data from the surface of another planet. |
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