NASA Wants to Send a Probe to the Hellish Surface of Venus

NASA Wants to Send a Probe to the Hellish Surface of Venus

5 years ago
Anonymous $xdcOWPpsb_

https://www.wired.com/story/nasa-wants-to-send-a-probe-to-the-hellish-surface-of-venus/

With all the talk about sending humans to the moon and eventually Mars, it can be easy to forget there are other planets worth exploring. But a team of researchers at NASA has set its sights on Venus, Earth’s closest neighbor and one of the least understood planets in the solar system.

Since the first (crash) landing on Venus in 1966, by a Soviet probe, spacecraft have only survived a total of a few hours on the planet’s surface. But NASA’s new probe is being designed last up to 60 days on the punishing Venusian surface. Known as the Long-Lived In-situ Solar System Explorer, or LLISSE, each of the probe’s components is specially engineered to withstand the high temperature, high pressure, and reactive atmosphere that define that infernal planet.