The planet Venus, as we see it in 2013

L.V Ksanfomality
Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

The planet Venus by its position in the Solar system, amount of radiation received from the Sun, composition and other properties is not very different from the Earth. Besides, this is the closest planet to the Earth. However, the physical conditions on Venus are very different from that of Earth. What were the differences in the evolution of these planets that could lead to this huge difference in the composition of the atmosphere, absence of water on Venus, a very high temperature and pressure at the surface? How could it be that almost all the planets have a rotation period about 10 to 20 hours, but the light day and night on Venus lasts 58 Earth' days each?

Since the beginning of planetary exploration by means of spacecrafts many questions were answered. But unsolved questions have become even greater. For almost half a century of the study of the planets, both the spacecrafts and experiments become more complex. Nevertheless researches carried out more than 30 years ago by means of the TV experiments on Venus, in which people saw first the landscapes of the planet's surface, are not repeated so far, mainly because of the enormous technical complexity of experiments.
But all of a sudden it turned out that the answer to the question of the existence of life beyond Earth would be found not in other worlds, tens of parsecs distant, but on the surface of the nearest planet of the Solar system. The obvious fact is that the surface temperature of the planet, 460oC, with an enormous pressure (8.7 - 9.2 MPa) of the oxygen-free atmosphere of a planet excludes any possibility of existence of the amino nucleic acid life (of Earth' type) on Venus. However, a careful analysis of the images which the landers VENERA returned 31 and 38 years ago, in 1975 and 1982, indicates the presence on the surface of Venus of strange entities, sometimes reminiscent some Earth' living form.

Over the years, the old TV-data has been accessed time and again, with the improvement of data processing and better to say, with the improvement of understanding of what we see on other planets. The promising results of a new treatment available data were obtained in 2003-06, and finds the most important objects were made in 2010-2012. These studies are continuing.

Russian abstract
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