why the USSR was obsessed with a planet that literally ate its machines

There was a time when it was thought that Venus would be a good planet to explore or even terraform. After all, it is close to Earth. Carl Sagan himself made a theoretical proposal to adapt this planet for human life. Therefore, it is not surprising that it became one of the biggest objectives of the Soviet Union (USSR) during the beginning of its space race. With the Venera missions, dozens of probes were sent to explore the neighboring planet. A few were enough to prove that it was a more inhospitable place than one thought. However, that did not make those scientists give up their efforts.

Only 16 named probes. Between 1961 and 1984, The USSR sent 28 probes to Venus. Only 16 of them, those that partially completed their mission, were baptized as Venera. Of those 16, only 13 crossed the atmosphere of the neighboring planet and 10 managed to land. Some even survived a few minutes to transmit important information to Earth. The violent destruction of each probe provided new data that was used to improve the next one. Even knowing that the next one would also succumb, the program continued forward and laid the pillars of the space exploration technologies that came later.

An inhospitable planet. Venus It is an extremely inhospitable planet for many reasons. To begin with, its temperatures are very high. Temperatures can reach 465ºC, which is why many Venera probes literally melted when they reached their destination. The pressure is also very high. It is equivalent to about 90 atmospheres and could quickly crush a submarine. Many of these probes were also crushed. On the other hand, more than 96% of its atmosphere is carbon dioxide, making it highly toxic, although that is not as problematic as the corrosive clouds of sulfuric acid that accompany it. The Venera probes also had to deal with this corrosion.

step by step. The first Venera probes lost communication with Earth before even reaching Venus. Others, however, managed to transmit information from the surroundings of the neighboring planet or even on its surface. The first to send data before being crushed by the pressure were Venera 5 and Venera 6. Previously, Venera 4 had been the first probe to manage to pass through the atmosphere of a planet other than Earth. Venera 7 even managed to land and stay 23 minutes on the surface of Venus before being torn apart by the heat and pressure. Later, Venera 9 sent the first black and white images.

Images of the surface of Venus taken by the Venera probes

Special mention to Venera 13. Possibly the greatest advances came with Venera 13. Although it was planned to last 32 minutes, the probe stayed on Venus for 127 minutes before disappearing like all the others. There he managed to take photographs much more advanced than those of Venera 9. He also measured the composition of the atmosphere and used a lightning detector to measure the electrical activity of Venus. It was even able to analyze the winds thanks to its built-in anemometer. Along with Venera 14, it was possibly the probe that provided the greatest discoveries before disappearing like all the others.

40 years later. With the Venera missions, the USSR verified that, in reality, Venus was a planet too inhospitable for exploration. But knowing our neighbors can help us know ourselves. For this reason, despite knowing that it was all suicide, 28 probes were sent, with landing, chemical analysis or image taking technologies that have continued to be used over time. Today, more than 40 years after the launch of the last probe, we can access the data obtained by many other missions that have also headed to Venus.

Other missions. First it was NASA, in 1970, with its Mariner 10 probe. Although its main objective was Mercury, it also had time to explore the surroundings of Venus. Later in 1989 The Magellan mission made the first global map of the Venusian surface. Today the American agency is preparing for the launch of VERITAS and DAVINCI+, which should leave for the neighboring planet in the coming years.

For its part, Europe launched the Venus Express probe in 2005 and Japan launched the Akatsuki probe in 2010. In the next decade, Europe is prepared to launch Envision, which will be in charge of studying the core of the planet. All of these missions were clearly inspired by the Venera probes. Of course, even if we can never live there, being able to send probes to a planet that melts and crushes ships is a great achievement of space technology.

Images | Reimund Bertrams (Wikimedia Commons) | USSR

In Xataka | A day on Venus: the (hellish) conditions on the surface of the neighboring planet