Published:
February 1, 2006
| Twelve probes have survived the trip to the broiling surface of Venus. Ten were Soviet landers, eight of which were part of the Venera series. The cores of the Venera probes consisted of 8-foot-diameter (2.4 meter) pressure vessels. The bases were doughnut-shape cushions. Although parachutes slowed each craft's initial descent, the last moments relied on metallic plates above the landers that caused enough drag in the dense atmosphere to slow the craft. |
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