Venera 7 Transmitted From Venus for 23 Minutes After 1970 Landing
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · May 22
Venera 7 Transmitted From Venus for 23 Minutes After 1970 Landing
3 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · May 22
A faint radio trace later pulled from background noise showed Venera 7 kept sending temperature data for about 23 minutes after touching down on Venus on Dec. 15, 1970.
The Soviet lander had nearly been written off: its parachute failed, it hit the surface at about 17 meters per second, tipped onto its side and left its antenna badly aimed.
Venera 7 still became the first human-made object to return data from the surface of another planet, thanks to a reinforced capsule built to survive Venus's roughly 475C heat and 90-bar pressure.
The mission capped years of Soviet setbacks after Venera 1 lost contact, Venera 3 crashed without data, and Venera 5 and 6 were destroyed before reaching the surface.
Soviet follow-on probes later stretched Venus surface operations to 53 and 65 minutes and returned the only surface images ever captured there; no approved Western mission now aims to repeat a long-duration Venus landing.
Could NASA’s 2033 probe photograph the Soviet landers that have sat on Venus for over 50 years?
What breakthrough will allow a robot to survive for months on Venus, a feat unachieved since the 1970s?
How can studying Venus's runaway greenhouse effect help scientists understand and protect Earth's future climate?
From Venera 7 to Venera-D: Engineering Triumphs and the Ongoing Quest to Unravel Venus
Overview
Venus is a top target for exploration because it is similar to Earth but has a much harsher environment, with surface temperatures around 465°C and pressures 90 times higher than Earth's. The Venera missions, especially Venera 7, were the first to send back direct data from Venus’s surface and atmosphere, revealing just how extreme and hostile the planet is. These tough conditions have limited missions to only a couple of hours on the surface, mainly because electronics and instruments cannot survive long. This legacy drives new missions to develop better technology for longer, more detailed exploration.