Sunday, October 3, 2010

Landing in Hell

Air and Space magazine has an  article on the challenges of landing on the surface of Venus: Forbidden Planet.  It's even harder than I had thought.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting. Wouldn't long life above the cloud-top flying platform give us more bang for the buck at present, on Venus ?

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  2. There is a strong interest in a long-lived balloon (probably a life in days) to study atmospheric chemistry and circulation.

    However, answering questions about the processes that created the surface will require landers.

    Which is higher priority seems unclear, but the Decadal Survey may provide an answer.

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