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ESA's Venus Express Mission has monitored Venus since April 2006,
and scientists worldwide have used mathematical models to
investigate its atmosphere and model its circulation. This book
summarizes recent work to explore and understand the climate of the
planet through a research program under the auspices of the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland.
Some of the unique elements that are discussed are the anomalies
with Venus' surface temperature (the huge greenhouse effect causes
the surface to rise to 460 DegreesC, without which would plummet as
low as -40 DegreesC), its unusual lack of solar radiation (despite
being closer to the Sun, Venus receives less solar radiation than
Earth due to its dense cloud cover reflecting 76% back) and the
juxtaposition of its atmosphere and planetary rotation (wind speeds
can climb up to 200 m/s, much faster than Venus' sidereal day of
243 Earth-days).
ESA's Venus Express Mission has monitored Venus since April 2006,
and scientists worldwide have used mathematical models to
investigate its atmosphere and model its circulation. This book
summarizes recent work to explore and understand the climate of the
planet through a research program under the auspices of the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland.
Some of the unique elements that are discussed are the anomalies
with Venus' surface temperature (the huge greenhouse effect causes
the surface to rise to 460 DegreesC, without which would plummet as
low as -40 DegreesC), its unusual lack of solar radiation (despite
being closer to the Sun, Venus receives less solar radiation than
Earth due to its dense cloud cover reflecting 76% back) and the
juxtaposition of its atmosphere and planetary rotation (wind speeds
can climb up to 200 m/s, much faster than Venus' sidereal day of
243 Earth-days).
Until very recently, all we really knew about Venus, our nearest
planetary neighbour, was that it was roughly the same size and mass
as the earth and was surrounded by a thick atmosphere. Then, in
1989, American scientists launched Magellan,the spacecraft that
would revolutionize our vision of this mysterious planet. Venus
Revealed is the first book to explain the breathtaking results of
this mission, which unveiled a Venusian world of active volcanoes,
shining mountains, and river valleys carved by torrents of flowing
lava. At one time, Venus may have even had a wet, temperate
climate, much like Earth's. What happened to turn it into a
hostile, burning acid world? The answer could very well help us
solve some of our most pressing environmental problems,from global
warming to acid rain. In Venus Revealed, David Grinspoon eloquently
argues that studying our exotic twin will inevitable teach us more
about ourselves.
On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than 3 billion
miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons
screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing
its instruments on the long mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto
system, and then continued on its journey out into the beyond.
Nothing like this has occurred in a generation - a raw exploration
of new worlds unparalleled since NASA's Voyager missions - and
nothing like it is planned to happen again. The photos that New
Horizons sent back to Earth graced the front pages of newspapers on
all 7 continents, and NASA's website for the mission received more
than 2 billion hits in the days surrounding the flyby. At a time
when so many think our most historic achievements are in the past,
the most distant planetary exploration ever attempted not only
succeeded but made history and captured the world's imagination.
How did this happen? Chasing New Horizons is the story of the men
and women behind the mission: of their decades-long commitment; of
the political fights within and outside of NASA; of the sheer human
ingenuity it took to design, build, and fly the mission. Told from
the insider's perspective of Dr. Alan Stern, Chasing New Horizons
is a riveting story of scientific discovery, and of how far
humanity can go when we work together toward an incredible goal.
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