Often referred to as Earth’s “evil twin,” Venus formed near the Sun and has since evolved very differently from our planet. It has a “wild” greenhouse effect (meaning the heat is completely trapped), a thick carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere, no magnetic field, and a surface hot enough to melt lead.
Many unmanned science missions will investigate how and why this happened in the next decade. But now some scientists want to send a manned mission there as well for flight. Is this a good idea?
Venus is slightly smaller than the diameter of the Earth and orbits close to the sun. This means that surface water evaporates soon following it forms, and the greenhouse effect begins. Early continuous volcanic eruptions created lava plains and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. A runaway greenhouse effect has begun, driving temperatures from just above the ground to a current high of 475°C.
Venus’ years are shorter than ours (225 days), but they rotate very slowly (243 days) and are “retrograde”. In other words, it is the opposite of Earth. Its slow rotation is associated with its lack of a magnetic field, as a result of which it continues to lose its atmosphere.
Venus’ atmosphere “spins at super speed” faster than the planet itself. Images from several missions show a V-shaped cloud pattern consisting of sulfuric acid droplets.
Despite the extreme conditions, some scientists speculate that the clouds of Venus may contain habitable conditions at certain altitudes. And recent measurements that clearly show phosphine, a possible sign of life, as it is constantly being produced by the microbes above, are hotly debated. Further measurement and research is needed to determine
futuristic missions
So far, what we know regarding Venus has been obtained from several previous rovers. For example, from 1970 to 1982, the Soviet probe Venera 7-14 was able to land on the harsh surface of Venus, survive up to two hours, and send back images and data. But questions remain regarding how Venus evolved differently from Earth. This is also important for understanding planets orbiting other stars that are likely to harbor life.
The next decade promises to be a fortune for Venus scientists. For 2021, NASA has selected two missions, Veritas and DaVinci+, to launch in 2028-30. The European Space Agency has chosen EnVision to launch in the early 2030s. These are complementary unmanned missions that will allow us to better understand the environment and evolution of Venus.
NASA/JPL
Veritas will map the surface of Venus to determine its geological history, rock formation, and early water significance. DaVinci+ includes an orbiter and a small probe that descends into the atmosphere to measure its formation, study the formation and evolution of the planet, and determine if an ocean once existed. EnVision studies the tracking of gases on the surface, subsurface, and atmosphere of planets. Use radar to map surfaces with better accuracy than ever before.
India is also planning the Shukrayan-1 unmanned mission, and Russia is proposing the Venera-D.
Do you need a manned flight?
The idea of a manned Venus flyby was proposed in the late 1960s, using the Apollo capsule to transport people around the planet. However, this idea ended when Apollo was completed. Now, with the idea of the Artemis program to fly around the Moon and other manned missions, the idea has resurfaced, most recently, in a newspaper article and at the September 2022 meeting of the support group, the International Space Federation. It was addressed at the conference. .
The idea is to drive a manned spacecraft around Venus and back to Earth. This will allow scientists to test deep space technologies, such as how to run manned missions with significant time delays when in contact with Earth. So it might be ready for a more complex manned mission to Mars. But the crew won’t land on Venus or do any real research into the atmosphere – the conditions are just too harsh.
The researchers who support the idea claim that Venus’ gravity might also be used to alter the spacecraft’s path to Mars. This saves time and energy to go directly from Earth to Mars. This is because the last option requires the orbits of the two planets to match, and we have to wait for the right moment to go and back. However, a manned mission to Mars would be very complex, so going directly from Earth to Mars would make the design simpler.
Even if humans were sent to planets that might have life, finding life wouldn’t be easy. This is dangerous. Before we discover life, we may end up polluting the atmosphere. The best way to look for biochemical signs of life is with unmanned probes. Closer proximity to the sun also creates greater thermal challenges and higher radiation than solar flares.
Unfortunately, these hovering missions only capture a few hours of data regarding incoming and outgoing routes. It is a very expensive project and is sure to produce stunning images and useful additional data. However, this adds little to the detailed, specially prepared research currently planned.
There are also more concept studies and more resonance studies, such as sending manned aircraft to fly as well as flying through the atmosphere of Venus. It’s a great idea and has the potential to produce more scientific results than flybys, but it’s still a remote and unrealistic concept at this point.
At this time, we are conducting manned explorations only in low Earth orbit. But Artemis’ plan is to move people around the moon and build a station called Gateway in lunar orbit. It is designed to do science, enable manned moon landings, and most importantly, test deep space technologies such as refueling and operations in remote environments.
This article is reprinted from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.
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