dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (12/15/84)
This is the anniversary of the first spacecraft to make it intact to the surface of Venus. More on Venera 7 -- when we come back. December 15 Venus Seven Picture the planet Venus encased in its thick atmosphere of clouds -- and then picture a spacecraft tumbling through those clouds on its way to the planet's surface. The clouds make the atmosphere thick -- and the pressure can be so intense it can crush an incoming spacecraft. Several spacecraft WERE crushed before one finally made it to the surface of Venus, on today's date in 1970. The craft that did make it was Venera 7, built and launched by the Soviet Union. The Soviets had tried for more than a decade to get spacecraft data from Venus, and they had amazing success with Venera 7. Not only was the craft the first to land on Venus -- it was the first from Earth to land on any other world besides the moon. Venera 7 took 120 days to go to Venus from the Earth. When it arrived, it entered the Venusian atmosphere and began a descent by parachute. Radio signals back to Earth were strong -- until the craft actually reached the planet's surface. Some Western scientists speculated that Venera 7 might have landed on very rough terrain, and that its antenna somehow got pointed in the wrong direction, away from Earth. The signals were weak -- but still useful -- for 23 minutes. Then the craft abruptly stopped transmitting. One possibility is that it may have landed on a mountain peak, then tumbled downward and was destroyed. By the way, it's now easy to see Venus is our sky. It's the brightest thing in the west after sunset. More about it -- tomorrow. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin