Venera: The Soviet Exploration of Venus

Post by dang » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 10:24 PM UTC

InclinedPlane wrote: post #31

sssilver wrote: post #10

One day I hope the humanity will credit the Soviet Union for what it really was -- a technocratic meritocracy, where scientific progress and enormous projects of planetary scale mattered more than daily preferences of spoiled individuals. Hopefully one day such a society will emerge again, and this time they will not dismantle themselves over having Coke and Levi's. Having lived in USSR -- no, we seriously didn't bre…

Are you fucking kidding me? Nearly as many people died due to Stalinism than did in the entirety of WWII. It was a horrorshow. A violent, oppressive regime that murdered millions and caused misery for millions more? Technocratic meritocracy? Bullshit. It was always about political favoritism. When smart people were in political favor maybe good shit got done, when dumb people were in political favor, well, shit got f…

Post by lifeisstillgood » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 11:29 PM UTC

curtis wrote: post #27

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That has to be the coolest idea I have heard in a very very long time. Absolutely no convincing long term value, but we just have to do it, just because we can. No asteroids to mine, no Mars bases to build, but "what happens if we go over there and look" Gets my vote.

I wouldn't go so far as to say no long term value -- a fly-by would be good preparation for an asteroid mission or a Mars/Phobos orbital mission. In fact it might be possible to do the follow-on mission with the same ship. NASA clearly needs an intermediate step between LEO and putting a man on Mars. Venus flyby plus teleoperated rovers is the easiest mission I can think of that might also be useful.

Post by curtis » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 11:45 PM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #34

curtis wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't go so far as to say no long term value -- a fly-by would be good preparation for an asteroid mission or a Mars/Phobos orbital mission. In fact it might be possible to do the follow-on mission with the same ship. NASA clearly needs an intermediate step between LEO and putting a man on Mars. Venus flyby plus teleoperated rovers is the easiest mission I can think of that might also be useful.

I meant not to imply it would be worthless, merely that it is not part of the traditional narrative of 1. Moon 2. Mars 3. ? 4. FTL to distant stars 5.Profit We are never going to get outside the solar system in any meaningful way unless physics changes a lot, so any exploration of our backyard will be valuable. I just think any attempt beyond the traditional approach will benefit the soul of the human race, as much a…

Post by MentalLandscape » Thu, Apr 24, 2014, 3:27 AM UTC

Roboprog wrote: post #4

Am I the only one who noticed the "works best with IE" notice at the bottom of the page? There's gotta be a "Soviet Russia" joke in there somewhere... (kudos on the probe history, though, as the US has largely ignored Venus, Magellan not withstanding)

Post by mastry0da » Thu, Apr 24, 2014, 5:57 PM UTC

mhurron wrote: post #26

Klapaucius wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At more than 90 bar, the lower atmosphere of Venus is basically made up of supercritical CO2, making it more or less a question of taste whether to call it an atmosphere or an ocean. Indeed, floating cities have been suggested as a way that man could actually live on the planet. High up in the atmosphere, the pressure and temperature would actually be quite livable.

And it could operate at the fringes of the Empire.