electronic journal of the asa ejasa april the electronic journal of the astronomical society of the atlantic volume number april table of contents asa membership and article submission information the soviets and venus part larry klaes asa membership information the electronic journal of the astronomical society of the atlantic ejasa is published monthly by the astronomical society of the atlantic incorporated the asa is a non profit organization dedicated to the advancement of amateur and professional astronomy and space exploration as well as the social and educational needs of its members asa membership application is open to all with an interest in astronomy and space exploration members receive the journal of the asa hardcopy sent through united states mail not a duplicate of this electronic journal and the astronomical league s reflector magazine members may also purchase discount subscriptions to astronomy and sky telescope magazines for information on membership you may contact 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opinions expressed in the ejasa are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the asa this journal is copyright c by the astronomical society of the atlantic incorporated the soviets and venus part copyright c by larry klaes the author gives permission to any group or individual wishing to distribute this article so long as proper credit is given the author is notified and the article is reproduced in its entirety to the north pole on june and two of the soviet union s mighty proton rockets lifted off from the tyuratam space center in the kazakhstan republic aboard those boosters were a new breed of venera probe for the planet venus designated venera and the probes were meant not for landing yet more spherical craft on the venerean surface but to radar map the planet in detail from orbit to accomplish this task the basic venera design was modified in numerous areas the central bus core was made one meter inches longer to carry the two tons of propellant required for braking into orbit double the fuel carried by the venera and orbiters eight years earlier extra solar panels were added on to give the vehicles more power for handling the large amounts of data which would be created by the radar imaging the dish shaped communications antennae were also made one meter larger to properly transmit this information to earth atop the buses where landers were usually placed were installed the by meter by foot kilogram pound polyus v side looking radar antennae the radar system possibly a terrain imaging version of the nuclear powered satellites used by the soviets for earth ocean surveillance would be able to map venus surface at a resolution of one to two kilometers to miles the soviet probes imaging parameters were a vast improvement over the united states pioneer venus orbiter which could reveal objects no smaller than kilometers miles in diameter and while the veneras resolution was comparable to that of similar observations made by the meter foot arecibo radio telescope on the island of puerto rico the orbiters would be examining the northern pole of venus this region was unobtainable by either arecibo or pioneer venus and appeared to contain a number of potentially interesting geological features worthy of investigation on october after an interplanetary journey of million kilometers million miles and two mid course corrections venera fired its braking rockets over venus to place itself in a polar orbit by kilometers by miles around the planet completing one revolution every twenty four hours venera followed suit four days later the twin probes thus became venus first polar circling spacecraft radar operations began on october for venera and october for venera for up to sixteen minutes every orbit over the north pole the probes would make a radar sweep of the surface kilometers ninety miles wide and nine thousand kilometers miles long the craft would then head out to the highest part of their orbits over the south pole to recharge their batteries and transmit the data back to two large soviet antennae on earth each strip of information took eight hours to process by computer by the end of their main missions in july of the veneras had mapped million square kilometers million square miles thirty percent of the entire planet venera and revealed that venus has a surface geology more complex than shown by pioneer venus in the late s numerous hills mountains ridges valleys and plains spread across the landscape many of them apparently formed by lava from erupting volcanoes in the last one billion years in planetary terms this makes the venerean surface rather young hundreds of craters were detected as well the largest of which had to have been created by meteorites planetoids would be a better term here at least fourteen kilometers miles across due to venus very dense atmosphere there were some disagreements between u s and soviet scientists on the origins of certain surface features for example the probes owners declared that the kilometer mile wide crater at the summit of meter foot high maxwell montes the tallest mountain on the planet was the result of a meteorite impact american scientists on the other hand felt the crater was proof that maxwell was a huge volcano sitting on the northern continent of ishtar terra in any event the u s decided to wait on making verdicts about venus until the arrival of their own radar probe scheduled for later in the decade originally named the venus orbiting imaging radar voir its initial design was scaled back and the craft was redesig nated the venus radar mapper vrm eventually the machine would be called magellan after the portuguese navigator ferdinand magellan circa this vehicle would map the entire planet in even finer detail than the veneras for the time however the soviet probes maintained that distinction radar imaging was not the only ability of the veneras bolted next to the polyus v radar antenna were the omega altimeter and the fourier infrared spectrometer the latter for measuring the world s temperatures the majority of the areas covered registered about five hundred degrees celsius degrees fahrenheit but a few locations were two hundred degrees hotter possibly indicating current volcanic activity the probes also found that the clouds over the poles were five to eight kilometers three to miles lower than at the equator in contrast the polar air above sixty kilometers thirty six miles altitude was five to twenty degrees warmer than the equatorial atmosphere at similar heights when the main mapping mission ended in july of there were plans for at least one of the veneras to radar image the surface at more southernly latitudes unfortunately this idea did not come to pass as the orbiters may not have possessed enough attitude control gas to perform the operation venera and ceased transmission in march of leaving the soviet institute of radiotechnology and electronics with six hundred kilometers miles of radar data tape to sort into an atlas of twenty seven maps of the northern hemisphere of venus venus by balloon for years the thick atmosphere of venus had been a tempting target to scientists who wished to explore the planet s mantle of air with balloon borne instruments professor jacques blamont of the french space agency centre national d etudes spatiales cnes had proposed such an idea as far back as only to have a joint french soviet balloon mission canceled in nevertheless late in the year such dreams would eventually come true when two proton rockets were sent skyward on december and the soviet union provided western observers with the first clear full views of the booster which had been launching every soviet venus probe since this was but one of many firsts for the complex mission the unmanned probes launched into space that december were named vega and a contraction of the words venera and gallei gallei being the russian word for halley not only did the spacecraft have more than one mission to perform they also had more than one celestial objective to explore namely the comet halley this famous periodic traveler was making its latest return to the inner regions of the solar system since its last visit in since it was widely believed that comets are the icy remains from the formation of the solar system five billion years ago scientists around the world gave high priority to exploring one of the few such bodies which actually come close to earth most comets linger in the cold and dark outer fringes of the solar system some like halley are perturbed by various forces and fall in towards the sun where they circle for millennia spewing out ice and debris for millions of kilometers from the warmth of each solar encounter the soviet union along with the european space agency esa and japan s institute of space and astronautical science isas did not wish to miss out on this first opportunity in human history to make a close examination of halley the esa would be using the cylindrical giotto probe to make a dangerously close photographic flyby of the comet while japan s first deep space craft sakigake pioneer and suisei comet would view halley from a much safer distance scientists in the united states also desired to study the comet from the vantage of a space probe at one time envisioning a vessel powered by solar sails or ion engines however government budget cuts to nasa canceled the american efforts the u s would have to make do primarily with earth based observations and the sharing of data from other nations though an instrument named the dust counter and mass analyzer ducma designed by chicago university professor john simpson was added on the soviet mission in may of the soviets answer to halley were the vegas instead of building an entirely new craft for the mission the soviets decided to modify their venera bus design to encounter the comet while performing an advanced venus mission along the way as vega and reached venus the buses would drop off one lander balloon each and use the mass of the shrouded planet to swing them towards comet halley much as the u s probe mariner used venus to flyby mercury eleven years earlier the soviet craft would then head on to halley helping to pinpoint the location of the comet s erupting nucleus for the giotto probe to dive in only kilometers miles away in march of as planned the two vegas arrived at venus in june of vega released its payload first on the ninth day of the month the lander making a two day descent towards the planet the craft touched the upper atmosphere on the morning of june sixty one kilometers miles above the venerean surface a small container was released by the lander which produced a parachute at kilometers miles altitude thus the first balloon probe ever to explore venus had successfully arrived one kilometer after the opening of the parachute helium gas was pumped into the teflon coated plastic balloon inflating it to a diameter of meters feet dangling on a tether thirteen meters feet below was the instrument package properly known as an aerostat the top part of the kilogram pound aerostat consisted of a cone which served as an antenna and tether attachment point to the balloon beneath it was the transmitter electronics and instruments connected at the bottom was a nephelometer for measuring cloud particles the aerostat was painted with a special white finish to keep at bay the corroding mist of sulfuric acid which permeated the planet s atmosphere the vega balloon was dropped into the night side of venus just north of the equator scientists were concerned that the gas bag would burst in the heat of daylight so they placed it in the darkened hemisphere to give the craft as much time as possible to return data this action necessitated that the landers come down in the dark as well effectively removing the camera systems used on previous missions the author wonders though if they could have used floodlights similar to the ones attached to venera and in when soviet scientists had thought the planet s surface was enshrouded in a perpetual twilight due to the permanently thick cloud cover the first balloon transmitted for hours right into the day hemisphere before its lithium batteries failed covering kilometers miles the threat of bursting in the day heat did not materialize the vega balloon was stationed at a kilometer mile altitude after dropping ballast at fifty kilometers thirty miles for this was considered the most active of the three main cloud layers reported by pioneer venus in indeed the balloon was pushed across the planet at speeds up to kilometers miles per hour strong vertical winds bobbed the craft up and down two to three hundred meters to feet through most of the journey the layer s air temperature averaged forty degrees celsius degrees fahrenheit and pressure was a mere earth atmosphere the nephelometer could find no clear regions in the surrounding clouds early in the first balloon s flight the vega lander was already headed towards the venerean surface both landers were equipped with a soil drill and analyzer similar to the ones carried on venera and in however vega would become unable to report the composition of the ground at its landing site in rusalka planitia the mermaid plain north of aphrodite terra while still ten to fifteen minutes away from landing a timer malfunction caused the drill to accidentally begin its programmed activity sixteen kilometers miles above the surface there was neither any way to shut off the instrument before touchdown nor reactivate it after landing this was unfortunate not only for the general loss of data but also for the fact that most of venus was covered with such smooth low level lava plains and had never before been directly examined nevertheless the surface temperature and pressure was calculated at degrees celsius degrees fahrenheit and earth atmospheres respectively during the lander s minutes of ground transmissions a large amount of background infrared radiation was also recorded at the site as had been done when the drills and cameras on venera and had failed in december of the soviets focused on the data returned during the lander s plunge through the atmosphere the french soviet malachite mass spectrometer detected sulfur chlorine and possibly phosphorus it is the sulfur possibly from active volcanoes which gives the venerean clouds their yellowish color the sigma gas chromatograph found that every cubic meter of air between an altitude of and kilometers and miles contained one milligram grain of sulfuric acid the vega data on the overall structure of the cloud decks appeared to be at odds with the information from pioneer venus the case was made even stronger by the fact that vega s results nearly matched its twin the vegas found only two main cloud layers instead of the three reported by the u s probes the layers were three to five kilometers to miles thick at altitudes of and kilometers and miles the clouds persisted like a thin fog until clearing at an altitude of kilometers miles much lower than the pv readings one possibility for the discrepan cies may have been radical structural changes in the venerean air over the last seven years when the lander and balloon finally went silent the last functioning part of the vega mission the flyby bus sailed on for a million kilometer million mile journey around the sun to become the first probe to meet comet halley on march the bus made a kilometer mile pass at the dark and icy visitor before traveling on in interplanetary space the soviets had accomplished their first mission to two celestial bodies with one space vessel on june vega released its lander balloon payload for a two day fall towards venus like its duplicate the vega balloon radioed information back to the twenty antennae tracking it on earth for hours before battery failure on the morning side of the planet during its kilometer mile flight over venus the second balloon entered in a rather still environment which became less so twenty hours into the mission after hours mission time the air became even more turbulent for a further eight hours when the balloon passed over a five kilometer three mile mountain on the continent of aphrodite terra a powerful downdraft pulled the craft kilometers miles towards the surface temperature sensors on the vega balloon reported that the air layer it was moving through was consistently degrees celsius degrees fahrenheit cooler than the area explored by the vega balloon this was corroborated by the vega lander as it passed through the balloon s level no positive indications of lightning were made by either balloon and the second aerostat s nephelometer failed to function the vega lander touched down on the northern edge of aphrodite terra s western arm on the fifteenth of june kilometers miles southeast of vega the lander s resting place was smoother than thought indicating either a very ancient and worn surface or a relatively young one covered in fresh lava the soil drill was in working order and reported a rock type known as anorthosite troctolite rare on earth but present in luna s highlands this rock is rich in aluminum and silicon but lacking in iron and magnesium a high degree of sulfur was also present in the soil the air around vega measured degrees celsius degrees fahrenheit and earth atmospheres essentially a typical day or night on venus far above the vega lander its carrier bus sped past venus at a distance of kilometers miles and followed its twin to comet halley making a closer flyby on march at just kilometers miles both probes helped to reveal that the comet is a very dark and irregular shaped mass about fourteen kilometers miles across rotating once every hours give or take three hours since both vega craft were still functioning after their halley encounters soviet scientists considered an option to send the probes to other celestial objects one prime target was the near earth planetoid adonis which vega could pass at a distance of six million kilometers million miles sadly the soviets had to back out on the opportunity to become the first nation to fly a spacecraft past a planetoid when it was discovered that there was not enough maneuvering fuel in the probe to reach adonis as planned vega and were quietly shut down in early future plans diverted the impressive vega mission had given some scientists numerous ideas and hope for even more ambitious expeditions to the second world from the sun one example was the vesta mission planned for the early s this soviet french collaboration called for the launch of multiple probes on a single proton rocket in either or the craft would first swing by venus and drop off several landers and balloon probes the aerostats would be designed to survive in the planet s corrosive atmosphere for up to one month a large improvement over the vega balloons two days the mission would then head out to investigate several planetoids and comets including a possible landing on vesta thus the mission name the most reflective main belt planetoid as seen from earth unfortunately for venus exploration plans began to change in the soviet union in the soviets decided to reroute the vesta mission to the red planet mars instead of venus keeping the comet and planetoid aspects intact by this time in the soviet space program interest was focusing on mars already under construction was an entirely new probe design called phobos two members of this class were planned to leave earth in and orbit mars the next year phobos and would then place the first instruments on mars largest moon phobos all this was a prelude to even more advanced mars expeditions including balloon probes rovers soil sample return craft and eventually human explorers in the early twenty first century the environment of venus was just too hostile for any serious consideration of human colonization in the near future but things began to look bleak for soviet venus and mars exploration both phobos probes failed to complete their missions one losing contact on the way to the red planet in and the other going silent in mars orbit just one week before the planned moon landing in march of in a plan was devised for a venus orbiter to drop eight to ten penetrators around the planet in several years later the mission launch date was moved to the year and has now been put on indefinite hold no other official soviet missions to venus have since been put forth a sad commentary after twenty five years of continuous robotic exploration of the planet during the late s a drastic political and economic change was taking over the soviet union president mikhail gorbachev began to open up his nation to the benefits of increased cooperation with the rest of the nations particularly those in the west while the culture became less oppressive than in the past the economy was taking a very rough ride as it also underwent the effects of a free market these effects hit everywhere including the space program missions at all levels were cut back the soviets began making almost desperate attempts to cooperate with other space faring nations either to keep their remaining programs alive or just to make money in early it was reported that the soviets were offering for sale several fully equipped veneras they had in storage for the price of million dollars each an incredibly low price for any planetary probe no nation took them up on the bargain meanwhile the united states was gearing up for new venus missions of their own magellan and galileo the u s reactivated their long dormant planetary exploration with the launch of the space shuttle atlantis on may aboard the shuttle was the magellan spacecraft a combination of spare parts from other u s probes designed to make the most detailed and complete radar mapping of venus in history when magellan reached the second world in august of it would be able to map almost the entire planet down to a resolution of meters feet surpassing the abilities of venera and in the interim another american probe was launched from a space shuttle which would make a quick flyby of venus on its way to orbit the giant planet jupiter in on october the shuttle atlantis released its second unmanned planetary probe into space named galileo after the famous italian astronomer who discovered the probe s primary target s major moons in in the absence of a powerful enough booster to send galileo on a direct flight to the jovian planet the probe was sent around venus and earth several times to build up enough speed to reach jupiter as a result venus became galileo s first planetary goal in february of the probe radioed back images of the planet s swirling clouds and further indications of lightning in that violent atmosphere on the drawing boards with the incredible success of magellan in the last few years new plans have been laid out for further journeys to venus scien tists in the u s have talked to space scientists in the former soviet union now the commonwealth of independent states since january of a cooperative effort to launch new venera lander missions within in the next decade japan india and the esa have also considered their own venus missions in the next few decades in february of nasa came up with several new venus projects as part of their discovery program for launching inexpensive probes throughout the solar system for venus two missions were selected for further study a venus multiprobe mission involving the landing of fourteen small probes over one hemisphere to measure winds air temperature and pressure and the venus composition probe designed to study venus atmosphere while descending through the thick air with the aid of a parachute much as the soviets had done since final project decisions will be made in humans on venus will a human ever be able to stand on the surface of venus at present the lead melting temperatures and crushing air pressure would be threatening to any earth life not protected in something even tougher than a venera lander plans have been looked into changing the environment of venus itself into something more like earth s however it should be noted that any such undertaking will require the removal of much of the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere a major reduction in surface heat and the ability to speed up the planet s rotation rate to something a bit faster than once every earth days such a project may take centuries if not millennia in the meantime efforts should be made to better understand venus as its exists today we still have yet to fully know how a world so seemingly similar to earth in many important ways became instead such a deadly place will earth ever suffer this fate perhaps venus holds the answers such answers may best be found through international cooperation including the nation which made the first attempts to lift the cloudy veils from venus bibliography barsukov v l senior editor venus geology geochemistry and geophysics research results from the u s s r university of arizona press tucson beatty j kelly and andrew chaikin editors the new solar system cambridge university press and sky publishing corp cambridge massachusetts burgess eric venus an errant twin columbia university press new york burrows william e exploring space voyages in the solar system and beyond random house inc new york chaisson eric and steve mcmillan astronomy today prentice hall inc englewood cliffs new jersey gatland kenneth the illustrated encyclopedia of space technology salamander books new york greeley ronald planetary landscapes allen and unwin inc winchester massachusetts hart douglas the encyclopedia of soviet spacecraft exeter books new york hartmann william k moons and planets third edition wadsworth publishing company belmont california harvey brian race into space the soviet space programme ellis howood limited chichester england henbest nigel the planets portraits of new worlds viking penguin books ltd harmondsworth middlesex england johnson nicholas l soviet space programs volume science and technology series american astronautical society univelt inc san diego california johnson nicholas l the soviet year in space teledyne brown engineering colorado springs colorado lang kenneth r and charles a whitney wanderers in space exploration and discovery in the solar system cambridge university press new york magellan the unveiling of venus jpl march murray bruce michael c malin and ronald greeley earthlike planets surfaces of mercury venus earth moon mars w h freeman and company san francisco california murray bruce journey into space the first three decades of space exploration w w norton and company new york newcott william venus revealed national geographic magazine volume number washington d c february nicks oran w far travelers the exploring machines nasa sp washington d c oberg james edward new earths restructuring earth and other planets a meridian book new american library inc new york robertson donald f venus a prime soviet objective parts spaceflight volume numbers british interplanetary society bis london england may june smith arthur planetary exploration thirty years of unmanned space probes patrick stephens ltd wellingborough northamp tonshire england voyage through the universe the near planets by the editors of time life books inc alexandria virginia wilson andrew jane s solar system log jane s publishing inc new york about the author larry klaes ejasa editor is the recipient of the asa s meritorious service award for his work as editor of the ejasa since its founding in august of larry also teaches a course on basic astronomy at the concord carlisle adult and community education program in massachusetts larry is the author of the following ejasa articles the one dream man robert h goddard rocket pioneer august stopping space and light pollution september the rocky soviet road to mars october astronomy and the family may the soviets and venus part february the soviets and venus part march the electronic journal of the astronomical society of the atlantic april vol no copyright c asa
