Venus Strategy for Exploration (1970) / Chapter Skim
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2 RECOMMENDATIONS
2 RECOMMENDATIONS
Pages 7-16
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From page 7... ...
Another important reason to support the exploration of Venus is that we must have more information on that virtually unknown planet in order to obtain some of the data necessary to unravel the puzzle of the origin of the solar system -- a question of major interest to laymen and scientists alike. Furthermore, a better understanding of the atmosphere of Venus will make important contributions to our understanding of generalized atmospheric problems and, hence, lead to added understanding of our own atmosphere.
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From page 8... ...
Since then, the success of the Venera probes and a number of engineering studies have greatly changed the situation; moreover, it has become clear that the entry probe is an ideal vehicle for attacking a number of prime scientific questions. There are many contributing reasons for this support for small missions: 1.
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From page 9... ...
It should, however, be relatively easy to ensure complete payload redesign, if necessary, every second opportunity (i.e., at approximately 3-year intervals)
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From page 10... ...
We may expect that the Planetary Explorer will playa comparable role in NASA's plane tary program. The rest of this report summarizes the results of our ex amination of the scientific questions posed by Venus, of the potential for rapid advance in our knowledge of the planet, and of the Planetary Explorer as the prime vehicle for this advance in the next 10 years.
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From page 11... ...
Because of our minimal experience in carrying out unmanned experiments on a remote planetary surface, and because of the high temperature and pressure of the surface of Venus, we recommend that experiments to be carried on early lander missions emphasize simplicity of operation and) where possible, avoid complex manipulation and processing of surface material.
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From page 12... ...
These unshielded vehicles will mostly vaporize in the upper atmosphere, and at most a few charred members may fall rapidly through the temperate region of the cloud tops. For numerical estimates we may start with the figures given in the Planetary Explorer, Phase A Report (Goddard Space Flight Center, October .1969, Section 6 and Appendix C)
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From page 13... ...
In addition, the highly integrated nature of the experiments on a particular mission suggests that the traditional payload concept -- a collection of separate experiments individually conceived -- is not valid. Rather, each mission should be regarded as a single experiment with the individual experimental subsystems carefully chosen to complement one another and to maximize the scientific return within the mission constraints.
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From page 14... ...
If passive seismology proves viable, future visits to the sur face ought to be made at three sites simultaneously. Analysis of surface materials can be definitive only if several sites are visited and if several fairly complicated experiments are carried out, involving, for example~ long lifetime, prepara tion of samples, and vacuum conditions.
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From page 15... ...
Development of international collaboration in planetary exploration is a natural extension of these successful scientific policies in geophysics, in the development of which the United States has played a leading role. The proposed program of investigation of Venus is scientifically the broadest yet proposed for a planetary investigation involving most of the subdisciplines of geophysics.
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From page 16... ...
These measurements, particularly high resolution, high-contrast imaging of the cloud layer, would play an important role in advance planning for the Planetary Explorer program. Specifically, imaging is not contemplated on the early Planetary Explorer missions.
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