Europe is faced with sending the spacecraft to Venus, our nearest neighbor, a greenhouse world also defined as the "evil twin" of the Earth
The Venus Express spacecraft was supposed to be sent into space on a Russian rocket from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan on October 26.10.2005, XNUMX, but the space agencies of Europe and Russia have already announced that the launch will be delayed for a few days due to faults discovered in the launch vehicle. Venus Express is scheduled to enter orbit around Venus next year and will explore the planet with its instruments.
The planet Venus is experiencing an accelerated greenhouse effect, and experts are speculating about how such an effect might work on Earth as well. "The evolution of Venus was somewhat different from that of our planet,"
claims Dr. Andrew Coates from UCL. At a general glance, Venus and Earth look similar, similar in size and mass, and both were born from the same primordial gas cloud. But, that's the similarity. The ground temperature on Venus reaches 460 degrees Celsius, and the thick atmosphere creates atmospheric pressure as if you were at a depth of one kilometer in the depths of the ocean (about a hundred atmospheres. The translator)
fire and brimstone
Venus Express will perform the first comprehensive study, shedding light on how Venus developed its diabolical climate conditions. The cloud layer reflects the light, which rains sulfuric acid, absorbs less heat from the Sun than the Earth, despite Venus being closer to the Sun. It is clear that an atmosphere with 96% carbon dioxide, accompanied by volcanic activity, must lead to an extreme greenhouse effect. "Venus evolved in a slightly different way than our planet," says Dr. Andrew Coates, a researcher at the Aspara Scientific Institute, "and in some ways Venus can be considered Earth's evil twin."
The American satellite "Magellan" sent a map of Venus, revealing extensive volcanic activity on the surface of the planet. "I suspect that Venus has active volcanic activity, but we are not sure of this," says Professor Fred Taylor of the University of Oxford, an interdisciplinary scientist on the mission. The European Space Agency mission ESA will investigate this question and others in a two-day mission to Venus that is identical to our 500 days.
British industry also plays an important role in the mission. Stevenage-based company EADS-Astrium produces the drive systems and SciSys the control systems. The launch will be carried out from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan on a "Soyuz" rocket, and after two stages the spacecraft will be put into an orbit that will take it straight to Venus. After five months, Venus Express will reach its goal and enter a polar elliptical orbit around Venus.
