Esa Releases Plan To Plunge Spacecraft Into Venus Frightening Atmosphere
Or as NASA puts it, “Venus today is a hellish world.” This brings up a bit of a dilemma: How do you get a human-made spacecraft not only to withstand the incomprehensible perils of Venus, but also to surf its lower atmosphere and collect valuable information while remaining unscathed? Well, according to the agency’s newly released game plan for its mission, dubbed EnVision, the key is “aerobraking.” “Flying on an [Ariane 6 rocket], we cannot afford all the extra propellant it would take to lower our orbit,” EnVision study manager Thomas Voirin said in a statement on Friday....