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sterlingice · 03-07-2023, 01:19 PM

This was making the rounds on Reddit over the last day or two.

I didn't realize that the Soviets actually landed a number of probes on Venus in the 70s and 80s and we even have some photos and sound from Venus. It's actually a crazy fascinating story to me and kindof bummed we haven't heard more about it here, probably because of cold war politics.

Venera - Wikipedia

At first, there was the (understandable) assumption that Venus was a lot like Earth. At least until probes started breaking high up in the atmosphere from all the pressure and heat (Venera 3/4). The next set (Venera 5/6) has issues with the batteries and parachutes failing but got good readings and they managed to extrapolate the measurements and built probes that could, conceivably withstand the forces.

Venera 7 (1970) was built like a tank to try and survive but its parachute failed and it crashed, damaging the radio antenna. It still managed to transmit a weak signal for a few minutes. Venera 8 (1972) landed successfully on the surface and transmitted data for an hour - no camera, though.

They redesigned the probes for the next series to have a giant "brake" (read: round ring around the lander to catch wind) and a giant shock absorber base. Venera 9-12 (1975, 1978) all landed successfully and transmitted. However, all of their cameras had issues with camera lans caps. Still, 9 and 10 got some pictures of Venus. These were followed by Venera 13/14 (1981/1982), humanity's last visits to Venus. (Venera 15/16 in 1983 were just orbiters)
Venera-9 imagery by Donald Mitchell
Venera-10 imagery by Donald Mitchell

The eerie yellow pictures look, well, alien. Rocky like Mars but yellow instead of red.
Venus From 33 Years Ago, and Why We Need to… | The Planetary Society

SI

03-07-2023, 01:19 PM	#271
sterlingice Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Back in Houston!	This was making the rounds on Reddit over the last day or two. I didn't realize that the Soviets actually landed a number of probes on Venus in the 70s and 80s and we even have some photos and sound from Venus. It's actually a crazy fascinating story to me and kindof bummed we haven't heard more about it here, probably because of cold war politics. Venera - Wikipedia At first, there was the (understandable) assumption that Venus was a lot like Earth. At least until probes started breaking high up in the atmosphere from all the pressure and heat (Venera 3/4). The next set (Venera 5/6) has issues with the batteries and parachutes failing but got good readings and they managed to extrapolate the measurements and built probes that could, conceivably withstand the forces. Venera 7 (1970) was built like a tank to try and survive but its parachute failed and it crashed, damaging the radio antenna. It still managed to transmit a weak signal for a few minutes. Venera 8 (1972) landed successfully on the surface and transmitted data for an hour - no camera, though. They redesigned the probes for the next series to have a giant "brake" (read: round ring around the lander to catch wind) and a giant shock absorber base. Venera 9-12 (1975, 1978) all landed successfully and transmitted. However, all of their cameras had issues with camera lans caps. Still, 9 and 10 got some pictures of Venus. These were followed by Venera 13/14 (1981/1982), humanity's last visits to Venus. (Venera 15/16 in 1983 were just orbiters) Venera-9 imagery by Donald Mitchell Venera-10 imagery by Donald Mitchell The eerie yellow pictures look, well, alien. Rocky like Mars but yellow instead of red. Venus From 33 Years Ago, and Why We Need to… \| The Planetary Society SI __________________ Houston Hippopotami, III.3: 20th Anniversary Thread - All former HT players are encouraged to check it out! Janos: "Only America could produce an imbecile of your caliber!" Freakazoid: "That's because we make lots of things better than other people!"