On March 5, 1982, the Soviet Union Venera-14
lander successfully touched down on the surface of our hellish neighbour, Venus. In total,
it worked for just 57 minutes before succumbing to the harsh environment. But in that short
time, it did manage to capture a colour panoramic photo of its scorched surroundings.
More than four decades later, and this photo is still one of the best we have from the
surface of Venus. Venera was a series of space probes launched
by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, 70s and 80s on a mission to study the planet's bizarre
environment. But It was also a program aimed at returning the first-ever close-up photos
from the surface of another planet.
Over the course of the program, 13 probes successfully reached Venus and transmitted
data about our neighbour, eight landed successfully on the surface, and four managed to capture
incredible photographs.
The reason it is so difficult to land on Venus is that below that thick toxic cloud cover
that is perpetually shrouding the planet, the surface experiences extreme temperatures
and pressures. In fact, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, even though Mercury
is closer to the Sun.
Here the temperature reaches about 475 degrees Celsius, which is about 900 degrees Fahrenheit.
To put that into some kind of perspective, that's more than seven times hotter than the
highest ever recorded air temperature on Earth. Hot enough to melt lead.
But that's just the temperature. At the surface of Venus, all that thick cloud creates a crushing
air pressure more than 90 times that of Earths. Here the atmosphere would be similar to the
pressures found more than 914 metres or 3000 feet below the ocean. Along with the extreme
heat, this environment would easily destroy most spacecraft attempting to explore Venus's
horrifying landscape.
However, the Venera landers were designed to withstand these intense conditions for
just about long enough to collect data and send us the first-ever glimpse of the Venusian
surface. But how exactly do you take a photograph in such a hellish environment?
What was clear, based on previous data, Is that if the camera were placed outside of
the protective shell, then the enormous pressure and temperature would destroy it. Therefore,
engineers placed a telephoto meter inside the lander. Through a special porthole, light
from the surface bounced through a periscope, which then directed it to the camera that
was protected inside.
Venera 9, which launched on June 8, 1975, was the first mission to attempt to take photos
of the Venusian surface using this technology. Though the probe successfully landed. Unfortunately,
only one of the lens caps on the two cameras separated. What was planned as a 360-degree
panoramic photo around the lander became a 180-degree photograph. But we did get our
first look at this scorched landscape.
The white object at the bottom of the photo
is part of the lander, and the distortion is caused by the old Venera imaging system.
Angular and partly weathered rocks can be seen dominating the landscape, many partly
buried in soil. And the mysterious horizon is visible in the upper left and right corners.
Following Venera 9's footsteps, Venera 10 reached the surface on October 25, 1975. Again,
unfortunately, only one of the lens caps separated properly, returning a 180-degree panoramic
photo before going silent after about 65 minutes or so.
The lighting was similar to that on Earth
on an overcast summer day during the photograph, according to scientists. The objects at the
bottom are parts of the spacecraft, and the ground seems to be covered in flat slabs of
rock, similar to volcanic areas found here on Earth.
In December 1978, Venera 11 and Venera 12
landed on Venus, collecting even more data for over an hour but also attempting to capture
the first-ever colour images. Unfortunately, in both cases, the lens cap issue struck again.
On these two missions, both lens caps on the cameras failed to separate, so while the landers
returned valuable data, neither was able to take any photographs.
After this disappointing lens cap malfunction, engineers made a series of changes to the
design of Venera-13 and Venera-14, which as it stands, are the only probes that have ever
transmitted colour photos of the shrouded Venusian landscape.
Venera 13 landed on Venus on March 1, 1982.
Once on the surface, the lens caps successfully ejected, and the cameras began taking a panoramic
photo around the lander. The probe survived for 127 minutes before going silent, which
was enough time to capture in colour, what appears to be a bizarre landscape dominated
by flat, dark, layered rocks, and fine grain-like soil material filling the gaps. The lens cap
can be seen sitting in front of the lander, and distant rolling ridges are visible in
the corner of the photos.
Just four days later, on March 5, 1982, Venera
14 successfully landed in a different region of Venus, and like its twin, the lens caps
also successfully ejected, allowing us to see even more of this hellish terrain. This
time, however, the ground seems far more fractured, with very little of the grain-like soil material
seen in 13s images. Once again, you can see the ejected lens cap and in the distance,
the hazy horizon.
Each of these incredible photos gave us a tiny glimpse into a world covered in cloud
so thick that its surface was a mystery up until the first lander arrived. They revealed
to us a yellow sky above a cracked, desolate landscape that is both alien and familiar.
They found that Venus is so harsh that no Earth creature could ever survive there. Yet
this world may have once been Earth-like before it experienced catastrophic climate change.
Future missions It has been decades since we got a fresh look
at what's below the clouds of our scorched neighbour, but that might be about to change.
Because this scalding hot vision of hell is about to get a few more visitors. One of the
most exciting is NASA's Davinci+ mission, which will study the origin, evolution and
present state of Venus from near the top of clouds all the way to the ground.
The mission has a planned launch date sometime in 2029, so we will have to wait a bit longer
yet. But During a flyby, the Davinci spacecraft will release a descent probe that will be
carrying a camera, allowing us to see Venus like never before.
On its hour-long descent, the probe will take thousands of measurements and capture up-close
images of the surface as soon as it emerges from below the thick clouds. The probe
is not required to survive the landing, however, but if it does, it could provide up to an
additional 17 minutes of invaluable science. Unfortunately, the Davinci+ descent probe
does not have a panoramic camera, meaning that the old photos from the Venera landers
may still be the best close-ups we have of our hellish neighbour for many years yet.
A testament to the brilliant engineering that went into these groundbreaking probes all
those years ago.
I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, tap the like button, subscribe and turn on
your notification bell so that you never miss an upload. If you want to find out more about
future missions to Venus, then check out this video where I take a closer look at the Davinci+
mission, plus other exciting up-and-coming missions to Venus. Thank you all so much for
watching, and I'll see you next time.