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Nov 9, 2017 · NASA's Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit any planet beyond Earth when it flew past Venus on Dec. 14, 1962.
The Soviet Union, followed by the United States, have soft landed probes on the surface. Venera 7 was the first lander overall and first for the Soviet Union, touching down on 15 December 1970. Pioneer Venus 2 contained the first spacecraft to land from the United States, the Day Probe.
SpacecraftLaunch Date [7]OperatorMission10 February 2020Gravity assist20 October 2018Gravity assist12 August 2018NASA United StatesGravity assist20 May 2010UNISEC JapanFlyby- Overview
- Spacecraft exploration
The greatest advances in the study of Venus were achieved through the use of robotic spacecraft. The first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of another planet and return data was the U.S. Mariner 2 in its flyby of Venus in 1962. Since then, Venus has been the target of more than 20 spacecraft missions.
Successful early Venus missions undertaken by the United States involved Mariner 2, Mariner 5 (1967), and Mariner 10 (1974). Each spacecraft made a single close flyby, providing successively improved scientific data in accord with concurrent advances in spacecraft and instrument technology. After visiting Venus, Mariner 10 went on to a successful series of flybys of Mercury. In 1978 the United States launched the Pioneer Venus mission, comprising two complementary spacecraft. The Orbiter went into orbit around the planet, while the Multiprobe released four entry probes—one large probe and three smaller ones—that were targeted to widely separated points in the Venusian atmosphere to collect data on atmospheric structure and composition. The three small probes were called the North probe, which entered the atmosphere at about 60° N latitude; the Night probe, which entered on the nightside; and the Day probe, which entered on the dayside and actually survived for an hour after impact. The Orbiter carried 17 scientific instruments, most of them focused on study of the planet’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and interaction with the solar wind. Its radar altimeter provided the first high-quality map of Venus’s surface topography. Pioneer Venus Orbiter was one of the longest-lived planetary spacecraft, returning data for more than 14 years.
Venus was also a major target of the Soviet Union’s planetary exploration program during the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, which achieved several spectacular successes. After an early sequence of failed missions, in 1967 Soviet scientists launched Venera 4, comprising a flyby spacecraft as well as a probe that entered the planet’s atmosphere. Highlights of subsequent missions included the first successful soft landing on another planet (Venera 7 in 1970), the first images returned from the surface of another planet (Venera 9 and 10 landers in 1975), and the first spacecraft placed in orbit around Venus (Venera 9 and 10 orbiters).
In terms of the advances they provided in the global understanding of Venus, the most important Soviet missions were Veneras 15 and 16 in 1983. The twin orbiters carried the first radar systems flown to another planet that were capable of producing high-quality images of the surface. They produced a map of the northern quarter of Venus with a resolution of 1–2 km (0.6–1.2 miles), and many types of geologic features now known to exist on the planet were either discovered or first observed in detail in the Venera 15 and 16 data. Late the following year the Soviet Union launched two more spacecraft to Venus, Vegas 1 and 2. These delivered Venera-style landers and dropped off two balloons in the Venusian atmosphere, each of which survived for about two days and transmitted data from their float altitudes in the middle cloud layer. The Vega spacecraft themselves continued past Venus to conduct successful flybys of Halley’s Comet in 1986.
In 1990, on its way to Jupiter, the U.S. Galileo spacecraft flew by Venus. Among its more notable observations were images at near-infrared wavelengths that viewed deep into the atmosphere and showed the highly variable opacity of the main cloud deck.
The most ambitious mission yet to Venus, the U.S. Magellan spacecraft, was launched in 1989 and the next year entered orbit around the planet, where it conducted observations until late 1994. Magellan carried a radar system capable of producing images with a resolution better than 100 metres (330 feet). Because the orbit was nearly polar, the spacecraft was able to view essentially all latitudes on the planet. On each orbit the radar system obtained an image strip about 20 km (12 miles) wide and typically more than 16,000 km (almost 10,000 miles) long, extending nearly from pole to pole. The image strips were assembled into mosaics, and high-quality radar images of about 98 percent of the planet were ultimately produced. Magellan also carried a radar altimeter system that measured the planet’s surface topography as well as some properties of its surface materials. After the main radar objectives of the mission were completed, the spacecraft’s orbit was modified slightly so that it passed repeatedly through the upper fringes of the Venusian atmosphere. The resulting drag on the spacecraft gradually removed energy from its orbit, turning an initially elliptical orbit into a low, circular one. This procedure, known as aerobraking, has since been used on other planetary missions to conserve large amounts of fuel by reducing the use of thrusters for orbital reshaping. From its new circular orbit, the Magellan spacecraft was able to make the first detailed map of Venus’s gravitational field.
The greatest advances in the study of Venus were achieved through the use of robotic spacecraft. The first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of another planet and return data was the U.S. Mariner 2 in its flyby of Venus in 1962. Since then, Venus has been the target of more than 20 spacecraft missions.
Successful early Venus missions undertaken by the United States involved Mariner 2, Mariner 5 (1967), and Mariner 10 (1974). Each spacecraft made a single close flyby, providing successively improved scientific data in accord with concurrent advances in spacecraft and instrument technology. After visiting Venus, Mariner 10 went on to a successful series of flybys of Mercury. In 1978 the United States launched the Pioneer Venus mission, comprising two complementary spacecraft. The Orbiter went into orbit around the planet, while the Multiprobe released four entry probes—one large probe and three smaller ones—that were targeted to widely separated points in the Venusian atmosphere to collect data on atmospheric structure and composition. The three small probes were called the North probe, which entered the atmosphere at about 60° N latitude; the Night probe, which entered on the nightside; and the Day probe, which entered on the dayside and actually survived for an hour after impact. The Orbiter carried 17 scientific instruments, most of them focused on study of the planet’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and interaction with the solar wind. Its radar altimeter provided the first high-quality map of Venus’s surface topography. Pioneer Venus Orbiter was one of the longest-lived planetary spacecraft, returning data for more than 14 years.
Venus was also a major target of the Soviet Union’s planetary exploration program during the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, which achieved several spectacular successes. After an early sequence of failed missions, in 1967 Soviet scientists launched Venera 4, comprising a flyby spacecraft as well as a probe that entered the planet’s atmosphere. Highlights of subsequent missions included the first successful soft landing on another planet (Venera 7 in 1970), the first images returned from the surface of another planet (Venera 9 and 10 landers in 1975), and the first spacecraft placed in orbit around Venus (Venera 9 and 10 orbiters).
In terms of the advances they provided in the global understanding of Venus, the most important Soviet missions were Veneras 15 and 16 in 1983. The twin orbiters carried the first radar systems flown to another planet that were capable of producing high-quality images of the surface. They produced a map of the northern quarter of Venus with a resolution of 1–2 km (0.6–1.2 miles), and many types of geologic features now known to exist on the planet were either discovered or first observed in detail in the Venera 15 and 16 data. Late the following year the Soviet Union launched two more spacecraft to Venus, Vegas 1 and 2. These delivered Venera-style landers and dropped off two balloons in the Venusian atmosphere, each of which survived for about two days and transmitted data from their float altitudes in the middle cloud layer. The Vega spacecraft themselves continued past Venus to conduct successful flybys of Halley’s Comet in 1986.
In 1990, on its way to Jupiter, the U.S. Galileo spacecraft flew by Venus. Among its more notable observations were images at near-infrared wavelengths that viewed deep into the atmosphere and showed the highly variable opacity of the main cloud deck.
The most ambitious mission yet to Venus, the U.S. Magellan spacecraft, was launched in 1989 and the next year entered orbit around the planet, where it conducted observations until late 1994. Magellan carried a radar system capable of producing images with a resolution better than 100 metres (330 feet). Because the orbit was nearly polar, the spacecraft was able to view essentially all latitudes on the planet. On each orbit the radar system obtained an image strip about 20 km (12 miles) wide and typically more than 16,000 km (almost 10,000 miles) long, extending nearly from pole to pole. The image strips were assembled into mosaics, and high-quality radar images of about 98 percent of the planet were ultimately produced. Magellan also carried a radar altimeter system that measured the planet’s surface topography as well as some properties of its surface materials. After the main radar objectives of the mission were completed, the spacecraft’s orbit was modified slightly so that it passed repeatedly through the upper fringes of the Venusian atmosphere. The resulting drag on the spacecraft gradually removed energy from its orbit, turning an initially elliptical orbit into a low, circular one. This procedure, known as aerobraking, has since been used on other planetary missions to conserve large amounts of fuel by reducing the use of thrusters for orbital reshaping. From its new circular orbit, the Magellan spacecraft was able to make the first detailed map of Venus’s gravitational field.
- Venus Express. The European Space Agency's Venus Express studied the planet's ionosphere and atmosphere, enabling scientists to draw important conclusions about the surface.
- MESSENGER. NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft flew past Venus twice on its way to Mercury.
- Cassini-Huygens. NASA and the European Space Agency's Cassini-Huygens mission visited Venus twice during its long trek out to Saturn.
- Magellan. NASA's Magellan orbiter mapped over 98% of Venus at a resolution of 100 meters or better using its radar.
- Mariner 2 — first successful Venus flyby (1962) Mariner 2 was the first successful mission not only to Venus, but to any other planet. It made a flyby of Venus on Dec.
- Venera 4 — atmosphere probe (1967) Venera 4 was a Soviet Union spacecraft that was the first to successfully transmit information from the atmosphere of Venus.
- Mariner 5 — flyby (1967) Mariner 5 was a NASA spacecraft that made its closest approach to Venus on Oct. 19, 1967. The spacecraft measured magnetic fields on Venus and in interplanetary space, and it examined charged particles, plasma (superheated gas), ultraviolet emissions and the amount by which radio waves are refracted in the atmosphere of Venus.
- Veneras 5 and 6 — atmosphere probes (1969) The Soviet Union's Venera 5 and 6 spacecraft were identical twin machines that each did successful flybys of Venus in 1969.
Launched on 27 August 1962, Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit Venus. The spacecraft was launched on an Atlas Agena-B rocket (right), from launch complex 12 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Closest approach to Venus, 34,773 km, occurred on 14 December 1962.
NASA's Magellan mission to Venus was one of the most successful deep space missions. It was the first spacecraft to image the entire surface of Venus and made several discoveries about the planet. Magellan burned up about 10 hours after being commanded to plunge into the Venusian atmosphere.
