Venus Mission May Hold Surprises For Scientists And Public, Says CU Prof

http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2005/421.html

News Release

Venus Mission May Hold Surprises For Scientists And Public, Says CU
Prof
University of Colorado at Boulder
November 2, 2005

University of Colorado at Boulder planetary scientist Larry Esposito, a
member of the European Space Agency's Venus Express science team,
believes the upcoming mission to Earth's "evil twin" planet should be
full of surprises.

While its 875-degree F. surface is hot enough to make rocks glow and
its
atmosphere is filled with noxious carbon dioxide gases and acid rain,
Venus actually is more Earth-like than Mars, said Esposito, a professor
in CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. A member
of the Venus Monitoring Camera team for the $260 million now slated for
launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Nov. 9, Esposito
said Venus is a "neglected planet" that undoubtedly harbors a number of
astounding discoveries.

One question revolves around what is known as an "unknown ultraviolet
absorber" high in the planet's clouds that blocks sunlight from
reaching
the surface. "Some scientists believe there is the potential, at least,
that life could be found in the clouds of Venus," said Esposito. "There
has been speculation that sunlight absorbed by the clouds might be
involved in some kind of biological activity."

Esposito is particularly eager to see if volcanoes on Venus are still
active. In 1983 he used data from a CU-Boulder instrument that flew on
NASA's Pioneer Venus spacecraft to uncover evidence that a massive
volcanic eruption there poured huge amounts of sulfur dioxide into the
upper atmosphere. The eruption, which likely occurred in the late
1970s,
appears to have been at least 10 times more powerful than any that have
occurred on Earth in more than a century, he said.

"The spacecraft will be looking for 'hotspots' through the clouds in an
attempt to make a positive detection of volcanoes," said Esposito, who
made the first observations of Venus with the Hubble Space Telescope in
1995. "While the Magellan mission that mapped Venus in the 1990s was
not
able to find evidence of volcanic activity, it did not close out the
question. This will give us another shot."

Since Venus and Earth were virtual twins at birth, scientists are
puzzled how planets so similar in size, mass and composition could have
evolved such different physical and chemical processes, he said. "The
results from missions like this have major implications for our
understanding of terrestrial planets as a whole, and for comparable
processes occurring on Earth and Mars," said Esposito.

Esposito has been involved in a number of planetary exploration
missions
at CU-Boulder. He currently is science team leader for the UltraViolet
Imaging Spectrograph, a $12.5 million CU-Boulder instrument on the
Cassini spacecraft now exploring the rings and moons of Saturn.

He also was an investigator for a CU-Boulder instrument that visited
Jupiter and its moons in the 1990s aboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft,
and
was an investigator for NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft that toted a
CU-Boulder instrument on a tour of the solar system's planets in the
1970s and 1980s.

Esposito was a science team member on two failed Russian missions to
Mars -- the 1988 Phobos mission that exploded in space and the Mars 96
mission that crashed in Earth's ocean. Five of the science instruments
on Venus Express are "spares" from the Mars Express and Rosetta comet
mission, according to ESA.

In addition to the camera, the Venus Express spacecraft also is
carrying
two imaging spectrometers, a spectrometer to measure atmospheric
constituents, a radio science experiment and a space plasma and
atom-detecting instrument. The spacecraft is expected to arrive at
Venus
in April 2006 and orbit the planet for about 16 months.

The Venus Express mission originally was scheduled to launch Oct. 26,
but a thermal-insulation problem discovered in the upper-stage booster
rocket caused a two-week delay. The launch window closes on Nov. 24.

Contact: Larry Esposito, (303) 492-5990

Jim Scott, (303) 492-3114

Larry Esposito and Jim Scott,
I'd have to say there's a whole lot more to Venus life than atmospheric
microbes.
Esposito said Venus is a "neglected planet" that undoubtedly
harbors a number of astounding discoveries.
As well as I've stipulated for more than the past 5 years, as to there
being those rather significant structures situated on Venus, and
there's certainly been sufficient hard-science and even the regular
laws of physics backing that up.

Life upon the surface of Venus is NOT all that technically
insurmountable, especially within the extended season of nighttime at
5+km, as perhaps having adapted over hundreds if not thousands of years
prior to that environment getting so extra hot and nasty, and/or of
other life as having been those of ETs using a degree of applied
technology represents that almost anything has been possible.

Would you or other folks like to talk specifically about a given frame
of radar imaging?

Or, would you rather go on pretending that such evidence and perhaps
that I do not exist?
~

Kurt Vonnegut would have to agree; WAR is WAR, thus "in war there are
no rules" - In fact, war has been the very reason of having to deal
with the likes of others that haven't been playing by whatever rules,
such as GW Bush.
Life upon Venus, a township w/Bridge & ET/UFO Park-n-Ride Tarmac:
http://guthvenus.tripod.com/gv-town.htm
The Russian/China LSE-CM/ISS (Lunar Space Elevator)
http://guthvenus.tripod.com/lunar-space-elevator.htm
Venus ETs, plus the updated sub-topics; Brad Guth / GASA-IEIS
http://guthvenus.tripod.com/gv-topics.htm

Brad Guth wrote:

Larry Esposito and Jim Scott,
I'd have to say there's a whole lot more to Venus life than atmospheric
microbes.
Esposito said Venus is a "neglected planet" that undoubtedly
harbors a number of astounding discoveries.
As well as I've stipulated for more than the past 5 years, as to there
being those rather significant structures situated on Venus, and
there's certainly been sufficient hard-science and even the regular
laws of physics backing that up.

Life upon the surface of Venus is NOT all that technically
insurmountable, especially within the extended season of nighttime at
5+km, as perhaps having adapted over hundreds if not thousands of years
prior to that environment getting so extra hot and nasty, and/or of
other life as having been those of ETs using a degree of applied
technology represents that almost anything has been possible.

Would you or other folks like to talk specifically about a given frame
of radar imaging?

Or, would you rather go on pretending that such evidence and perhaps
that I do not exist?

Hey Brad, so far it looks like you are running quite well for the Kook
of the Month balloting, even though you are up against quality
competition.

Good luck!

[malformed sig flushed]

--
Official Associate AFA-B Vote Rustler
Official Overseer of Kooks and Trolls in alt.astronomy

"The original human being was a female hermaphrodite with
both male and female genitalia."

"Human beings CAN NOT live in a solar system without a sun
with a ferrite core and a planet without a solid iron core."

-- Alexa Cameron, Kook of the Year 2004

"I am a sean being from another planet."
-- Darla aka Dr. Why aka Dr. Yubiwan aka ...

wrote in news:1131039016.619681.320720
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

In addition to the camera, the Venus Express spacecraft also is
carrying
two imaging spectrometers, a spectrometer to measure atmospheric
constituents, a radio science experiment and a space plasma and
atom-detecting instrument.

I'd never heard of an imaging spectrometer until now, but they sound like
real workhorses. What are typical frequency ranges and spatial and
frequency resolutions for such devices?