In 2016, NASA announced that it was planning a rover, the Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments, designed to survive for an extended time in Venus's environmental conditions. It would be controlled by a mechanical computer and driven by wind power. ...
astronomers have been aware that Venus’ atmosphere behaves much differently that those of other terrestrial planets. Whereas Earth and Mars have atmospheres that co-rotate at approximately the same speed as the planet, Venus’ atmosphere can reach speeds of more than 360 km/h (224 mph). So wh...
On the other hand, the wind speed becomes increasingly slower as the elevation from the surface decreases, with the breeze barely reaching the speed of 10 km/h (2.8 m/s) on the surface (DK Space Encyclopedia: Atmosphere of Venus p 58). Near the poles are anticyclonic structures called ...
Ash on Lava In northern Navka, radar-dark wind streaks have been blown across radar-dark lava flows, indicating a SE-NW wind direction. The darkness of the streaks indicates they are composed of small, fine-grained material that is too smooth to return a strong radar signal. The radar-...
These maneuvers give Parker the oomph to fly ever-closer to the sun on its quest to study solar wind, the source of space weather, and its origins. Scientist discovers volcano still erupts on Venus NASA's Magellan took this image of Maat Mons, the highest volcano on Venus. The planet ...
This all seems more reasonable when you consider the incredible scientific bounty from the mission. After arriving at Venus back in 2006 it has gazed at this cloud-covered world in infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light, measured magnetic fields, the interaction of the solar wind with the atmo...
(224 mph). Other studies, and computer simulations indicate that the speed of the wind at the bottom of the clouds is nearly constant, without significant differences between day and night. The team was then able to assume that the wind speed registered at night is the same at the lower ...
Closer to the equator, the wind speeds die down to almost nothing. Because of the thick atmosphere, the winds move much slower as you get close to the surface of Venus, reaching speeds of about 5 km/h. Because it's so thick, though, the atmosphere is more like water currents than blo...