Space Station Info :: Nine Planet Solar System :: Space Venus :: Venus Vegas

Venus Vegas

On June 11 and June 15 of 1985 the Soviet Vega 1 and Vega 2 probes encountered Venus. Landing vehicles carried experiments focusing on cloud aerosol composition and structure. Each carried an ultraviolet absorption spectrometer, aerosol particle-size analyzers, and devices for collecting aerosol substance and analyzing it with a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph, and an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The upper two layers of the clouds were found to be sulfuric acid droplets, but the lower layer is most likely composed of phosphoric acid solution. The crust of Venus was analyzed with the soil drill experiment and a gamma ray spectrometer. As the landers carried no cameras,so no images were returned from the surface.

The Vega missions also used balloon-borne aerostat probes that floated at about 53 km altitude respectively for 46 and 60 hours, traveling about 1/3 of the way around the planet. These measured wind speed, temperature, and pressure and cloud density. More turbulence and convection activity than expected was discovered, including occasional plunges of 1 to 3 km in downdrafts. The Vega spacecraft continued to rendezvous with Halley's Comet nine months later, bringing 14 instruments and cameras in addition for that mission

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Physical Characteristics of Venus

Atmosphere
Surface Features
Venus Moons

Observations And Explorations Of Venus

Historical Observations of Venus
Phases Of Venus
Early Flybys of Venus
Early Landings of Venus
Venus Early Orbiters
Pioneer Venus
Further Soviet Successes
Venus Vega Lander
Magellan Venus
Venus Recent Flybys