All About Venus

• Venus is the second planet from the sun
• Venus is Earth’s closest planetary neighbor.
• Venus is a terrestrial planet, small and rocky in composition.
• Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system, despite Mercury being closer to the sun.
• Venus has a thick atmosphere filled with greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and yellowish clouds of sulfuric acid.
• The atmosphere traps heat, creating surface temperatures around 900 degrees Fahrenheit (475 degrees Celsius).
• The surface is rusty-colored, with intensely crunched mountains and thousands of volcanoes.
• There is a possibility that some volcanoes are still active.
• The air pressure on Venus is more than 90 times that of Earth.
• This level of pressure is the equivalent of being a mile below the ocean on Earth.
• Venus is named after Aphrodite, the Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty.
• It was named after her due to it being the brightest planet that appeared in the sky in ancient times
• Venus is sometimes called Earth’s twin because it's similar in size and structure.
• Venus spins in the opposite direction of Earth and most other planets.
• On Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
• Venus reflects 70% of the sunlight that reaches it, making it the brightest planet in the night sky.
• The rotation of Venus is very slow, making its day longer than its year.
• It takes about 243 Earth days for Venus to spin around once.
• It takes 225 Earth days for Venus to orbit the Sun.

Venus Exploration

• More than 40 spacecraft have been launched for Venus.
• Japan's Akatsuki is currently in orbit around Venus, studying weather patterns, lightning, and active volcanism.
• NASA's Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit any planet beyond Earth.
• Exploring Venus's surface is difficult due to intense heat and crushing air pressure.
• The longest a spacecraft has survived on Venus’s surface is a little over two hours.
• Soviet Union's Venera 13 probe set this record in 1981.

Future Venus Missions

• NASA's DAVINCI mission is planned for a probe landing in 2031.
• DAVINCI will focus on atmospheric descent, attempting to send surface data.
• NASA's VERITAS and ESA's EnVision will follow with orbital observations in the 2030s.
• VERITAS aims to create high-resolution, global maps of Venus's surface from a low, circular orbit.