Venus Express |
Venus Express |
Apr 12 2005, 06:56 PM
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4405 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
If all goes well, Venus Express will be a major topic for discussion in this forum a year from now. Does anyone know how good the surface coverage will be from VIRTIS and VMC? My understanding is that VIRTIS will obtain low resolution multispectral maps, and that VMC will, in addition to cloud monitoring, have one channel that can see the surface, but I don't know at what resolution or at what quality. It will be nice to have some non-radar images of Venus' surface besides the Venera snapshots and the shadowy images from Earth and Galileo's NIMS.
Ted -------------------- |
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Nov 7 2005, 03:04 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 350 Joined: 20-June 04 From: Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. Member No.: 86 |
If Venus is almost exactly like Earth, but much hotter, and Mars is quite a lot like Earth, but much cooler, and Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, and Mars is further away from the sun than Earth, then hmm, what could it be I wonder...
I'm looking forward to this mission myself.. |
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Nov 7 2005, 03:41 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
QUOTE (mike @ Nov 6 2005, 08:04 PM) If Venus is almost exactly like Earth, but much hotter, and Mars is quite a lot like Earth, but much cooler, and Venus is closer to the sun than Earth, and Mars is further away from the sun than Earth, then hmm, what could it be I wonder... I'm looking forward to this mission myself.. Mars is only about 11% the mass of the Earth, and the bulk composition is quite different, so the differences abound. Given that and other differences that began with formation, I'd say differences should be expected as the rule and similarities seen as more surprising. Venus has similar mass and bulk composition, but the essential cause-of-it-all difference maker may be the slow rotation. Because of that, no magnetic field. Because of that, the upper atmosphere is pounded by solar wind. Because of that, H2O is broken up and lost. Because of that, CO2 fills the atmosphere AND lighter rock (granite) is not formed. Because of the CO2, the stifling heat. Because of the lack of granite and the heat, entirely different crustal cycling regimes. It's unclear if that is really the chain of causality, and certainly more exploration is needed, but it would be stirring if such a small matter led to such a huge difference. And it would still be unclear why the rotation is so slow; there is a chicken-and-egg question about whether or not drag in the massive atmosphere may have controlled the rotation rate. The other external factor that may have contributed is the absence of a large satellite. |
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