Magellan Mission to Venus - Lab Report Example

Radio-tracking was used to measure the planet’s gravitational field intensities at different locations and radar altimetry helped in mapping the Venusian surface almost completely along with valuable information on elevations and depressions. The mission sent thousands of Synthetic Aperture Radar or SAR images for research and analysis. (NASA, 1994)

2. The atmosphere of Venus is very thick with lots of gaseous substances. This is responsible for poor visibility across the atmospheric blanket of the planet. Optical cameras can operate optimally when there is enough visibility. On the contrary, electromagnetic radiations can diagnose interference patterns better and hence they can penetrate even a highly dense atmospheric environment. Therefore, radars were deployed in the Magellan mission and poor visibility was overcome with the help of advanced technology. (NASA, 1994)

3. Magellan's mission revealed that there is nothing on Venus such as continental or oceanic plates that are discerned on earth. The absence of such tectonic plates means there are no tectonic activities on Venus now. Also, the SAR images of Venus show that there are almost no discernable impact craters on the Venusian surface. Moreover, the presence of Half Crater remains another proof that establishes tectonic activities stopped on Venus’s surface in some hoary past. The surface of the planet is only 100 million years old. This is due to excessive volcanism and subsequent resurfacings. (NASA, 1994; Bindschadler et al, 1992)

4. The deuterium to hydrogen ratio is almost constant throughout our universe since the occurrence of deuterium, which is a hydrogen isotope, is very limited and evenly distributed almost in all the solar-terrestrial systems. But in Venus, the deuterium to hydrogen ratio is significantly high. This suggests that there were vast amounts of water in Venus. The presence of relatively higher amounts of deuterium in the Venusian environment can only be explained if we assume that in the past, there used to be water on the planet. Due to lower escape velocity, hydrogen readily escaped Venus’s gravitational field when water vaporized during global resurfacing of the planet. But deuterium has a higher escape velocity and it remained trapped in the planet’s atmosphere. (Washington University In St. Louis, 2001; NASA, 1994)

5. The Half Crater on Venus is also called Balch. It is very important in the context of the geological features of Venus. The crater was formed millions of years ago and has actually been modified by tectonic activities. But these tectonic activities gradually stopped, and the process of crater modification was not completed. This left a half-crater sort of structure, which is very unique in our solar system. (NASA, 1994)

6. The geological process responsible for the pancake-like domes on the surface of Venus is generally termed volcanism. These structures were formed by silica-rich hot lava demonstrating a viscous flow across the surface of the planet. These lavas got projected in the highly-dense atmosphere during volcanic eruptions and on settling, they gave rise to the pancake-like features found in the Venusian surface. (NASA, 1994)

7. In different planets and planetary satellites present in the solar system, scientists have found lots of impact craters. But Venus is an exception. The number of small impact craters is so few on Venus because it has a very dense atmosphere. When a meteoroid enters this dense atmosphere, both its speed and mass are decreased rapidly. Therefore, only massive meteorites can finally hit the surface of the planet with a mass large enough to create an impact crater. Small meteorites degrade so rapidly that they finally leave almost no effect on the surface of the planet. (NASA, 1994)

8. Venus has an almost identical shape and size as compared with earth. Also, there used to be water on the planet. Possibly, in the future, scientists will be able to form large amounts of artificial clouds on earth and control the gaseous composition of the atmosphere. Similar activities can be carried out in Venus too and in that way, its atmosphere might be made human friendly. Although at present we don’t have such technologies, humans should continue to send missions to Venus so that it can be furnished as another habitat for us.