NASA May Send Fleet of Spacecraft To Venus

Truthed · 03-20-2009, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Two high-altitude balloons built to hover in sulphuric acid clouds could be part of a future fleet of spacecraft sent to Venus, a NASA advisory team says.
The multi-billion-dollar mission concept – which is being considered for launch in the next fifteen years – could help reveal more about Venus's runaway greenhouse effect, any oceans it may once have had, and possible ongoing volcanic activity.
It could be the next flagship mission sent to a planet, after a planned mission to Jupiter and its moons set for launch in 2020.
The Venus mission would cost some $3 billion to 4 billion and would launch between 2020 and 2025, according to NASA, which in 2008 tasked a group of scientists and engineers to formulate goals for the mission.
The team's study, which will be released in April, outlines a plan to study the hazy planet, which has more in common with Earth than any other in terms of distance from the Sun, size and mass, but evolved into an inhospitable world where surface temperatures hover close to 450°C and sulphuric acid rains from the sky.
The team's mission concept includes one orbiter, two balloons and two short-lived landers, all of which would launch into space on two Atlas V rockets.
"Our understanding of Venus is so low, we really need this armada," says planetary scientist Mark Bullock of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, one of the team leaders.

Mingus · 03-20-2009, 06:16 AM

This ought to be very interesting. Their latest mission to Mercury has dug up a lot of updated information, such as a stronger magnetosphere (I believe that's what it was, I kind of forget, but don't feel like re-researching it). So far, we can't get too much from Venus due to the 900 degree temperatures. It will be intriguing to see just what's on the surface, along with anything else we can find out.

punyhuman · 03-20-2009, 06:39 PM

How bout those two enormous upside down tornadoes reported at Venus's south pole? Whats going on there? How's that work?

Mingus · 03-20-2009, 06:54 PM

Chances are that's the result of the same type of physics that cause Australia's toilets to flush in the opposite direction of Northern toilets.

03-20-2009, 06:39 PM	#3
punyhuman Junior Investigator Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 28	How bout those two enormous upside down tornadoes reported at Venus's south pole? Whats going on there? How's that work? Last edited by punyhuman; 03-20-2009 at 06:40 PM. Reason: Extra commentary

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03-20-2009, 06:16 AM	#2
Mingus Investigator Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 325	This ought to be very interesting. Their latest mission to Mercury has dug up a lot of updated information, such as a stronger magnetosphere (I believe that's what it was, I kind of forget, but don't feel like re-researching it). So far, we can't get too much from Venus due to the 900 degree temperatures. It will be intriguing to see just what's on the surface, along with anything else we can find out.

03-20-2009, 06:54 PM	#4
Mingus Investigator Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 325	Chances are that's the result of the same type of physics that cause Australia's toilets to flush in the opposite direction of Northern toilets.