Venus is the public next door . An Earth - sized satellite that could n’t be less like Earth , it is a fiendish world with acid clouds . Several missions are planning to go there over the next decennium , includingNASA ’s DAVINCI , which will drop a probe into the atmosphere . The goal will be to hit the books the atmosphere and the dry land below , and NASA has an interesting location to target : what is consider to be an ancient continent .
DAVINCI ( Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of stately gases , Chemistry , and Imaging ) will fly down to Alpha Regio , which is one of the most mystic neighborhood on Venus . It has a terrain that has not been seen anywhere else in the Solar System . have it off as " tesserae " due to the resemblance to a mosaic , the positioning will provide some of the answer the mission hope to rescue , such as the ancient account of Venus .
The mission squad want to have the dependable understanding of where they are going , so they used data from NASA ’s Magellan . Combined with observance from Arecibo and raw data analysis techniques , they deliver the current best map of Alpha Regio .
The original (right) and updated (left) maps of Alpha Regio. The red ellipses on each image mark the area DAVINCI’s probe will descend over.Image Credit: Jim Garvin/NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
The next best one will be done by DAVINCI itself . Once the probe pop off through the thick layer of clouds , it will be snap photos of Alpha Regio from 40 km ( 25 miles ) of elevation as it moves downwards , facing the increase temperatures ( enough to melt down confidential information ) and crush pressure .
The team is also do package to see the terrain across the haze , developing techniques that can deliver the level of particular they hope to obtain . The destination is to have a map with a resolving of about 1 cadence ( 3 feet ) per pixel , showing single rocks , potential ancient rivers , and more .
“ All this old missionary station data is part of a mosaic that tell the story of Venus , ” Jim Garvin , DAVINCI master investigator and primary scientist at NASA Goddard , enounce in astatement . “ A story that is a chef-d’oeuvre in the making but uncomplete . ”
The elaborated map will countenance world scientists to understand how the tesserae number to be . Do they form like terra firma ’s mountains or volcanos?Venus has over 85,000 volcanos – an tremendous number compared to the 1,500 dynamic on Earth .
DAVINCI is made of an atmospherical investigation and an orbiter . The mission will inform our understanding of the dense and toxic Venusian atmosphere as well as provide new insights into the possible watery past of the planet . Did Venus ever have an ocean ? DAVINCI will bring the first pic of the surface of Venus since the Soviet Venera 14 in 1982 .
