The Sandspur

Issue date: 11/4/05 Section: Life & Times

Media Credit: Courtesy of NASA

Many ancient civilizations as early as 1600 B.C. have kept detailed records on the planet Venus showing a great interest in its bright and cloudy surface. However, little interest has been shown in the slowest revolving planet in our solar system with only three missions dedicated to its study to date.

However, The European Space Station has now decided to launch the cleverly named, "Venus Express Satellite" which is filled with instruments to take such measurements as temperature and surface to search for magnetic fields and other speculated happening within this mysterious planets boundaries. This satellite will basically bounce radio waves off of the surface of the planet to take pictures and measure such information.

It is said that Venus resembles early Earth before its "evolutions" and may hold the key to existing life on other planets. This information is also hoped to be included in that which will be gathered by the satellite over a two year period. Interestingly, this "young Earth" is a far cry from the typical status of the Earth as we know it.

Venus is covered in thick, dense clouds which are 40 miles thick and its surface is so dense that it is equivalent to 3,000 feet of water on Earth. In Layman's terms, one of human physiological make-up would be crushed if venturing upon the Venus atmosphere.

The temperature on Venus is unlivable at a massive 860 degrees Fahrenheit due to the 95 percent carbon dioxide which soaks in the suns heat and radiation. Winds in Venus' atmosphere can equal up to 200 miles per hour and because of the density of the planet would be like being hit by a truck.

Venus has been very lucky in that it is a very young looking 4.6 Billion-year old, appearing only about 500 million years of age. This is speculated due to a lack of craters on the planets surface in comparison to other planets about its age. Rotating counterclockwise the years on the planet Venus are inhumanly long, equaling about 243 Earth days. It has been suggested by scientists that an asteroid may have been the cause for this massive slow in planet rotation sometime in its years of existence.

The "Venus Express Satellite" is expected to be launched in the near future and will take approximately less than a half of a year to reach the planet. It is very strange that there have been so few missions to a planet that could possibly harbor life in its clouds, as is explained by CNN reporter, Bjorn Carey. But it is felt that a deeper exploration than simply orbiting the mysterious planet is in order if we want to have a greater understanding of it and to an interest in finding life within its dense, cloudy atmosphere.

Perhaps this will be an endeavor in the near future as well with the age of science and space exploration at hand. Such new monetary interest in the space program over the past years should definitely jump-start research on such important contributors to exploration as Venus. Thanks to such programs the mystery which lies within her bounds may soon be resolved.

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