[QUOTE]08:00 14 May 2010 by [URL=http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Rachel+Courtland]Rachel Courtland[/URL]
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[IMG]http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn18892/dn18892-1_300.jpg[/IMG]
Flying close to the wind (Image: Akihiro Ikeshita)
Talk about flying close to the wind. A Japanese interplanetary spacecraft will begin its travels to Venus next week, to get the clearest ever view of massive gusts in the planet's atmosphere.
The Venus Climate Orbiter, called [URL=http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f17/overview/akatsuki_e.html]AKATSUKI[/URL], aims to find out why blistering winds zip around the planet at speeds of up to 400 kilometres per hour. The upper clouds can circle the planet in four days or even less, and no one knows why. The effect is called "super-rotation", because the bulk of the atmosphere is rotating much faster than the planet itself. Venus takes 243 Earth days to make one rotation.
To investigate, AKATSUKI will move roughly in sync with the winds during part of its orbit, so it can track a patch of atmosphere for about 24 hours at a stretch. Five cameras will snap the planet at different wavelengths. "By combining the images from these cameras we can develop a three-dimensional model of the Venus atmosphere," says mission scientist Takeshi Imamura. This will be the first time such measurements have been taken on a planet other than Earth, he adds.
AKATSUKI will be particularly well equipped to study slower winds that move north and south from the planet's equator, which may well play a significant role in the atmosphere's rotation. The European Space Agency's Venus Express, which is in orbit around the planet, can already see these meridional winds. "But the error bars are quite wide," says ESA's Håkan Svedhem. "We can't really tell anything about the seasonal or day-to-day variability."
Plans for joint observations using the two spacecraft are in the works.
[B]Read more:[/B] [URL=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627603.800-maiden-voyage-for-first-true-space-sail.html]Maiden voyage for first true space sail[/URL]
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Source: [url]http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18892-venus-orbiter-to-fly-close-to-superrotating-wind.html[/url]
Very, very informative. can't wait for the results
the surface of jupiter is a massive cauldron of simple elements liquified, of course wind could pick up speed quickly over such a plain surface
see, i figured that out without the need for billions of dollars of equipment
[QUOTE=Quo Vadi;21972856]the surface of jupiter is a massive cauldron of simple elements liquified, of course wind could pick up speed quickly over such a plain surface
see, i figured that out without the need for billions of dollars of equipment[/QUOTE]
Don't tell that to the politicians, they'll cut the funding.
Good to see all our planet's space programs working together, for the good of all humans.
:science:
Fuck yeah.
About damn time you made another thread. I was about to think that you'd given up
[QUOTE=Quo Vadi;21972856]the surface of jupiter is a massive cauldron of simple elements liquified, of course wind could pick up speed quickly over such a plain surface
see, i figured that out without the need for billions of dollars of equipment[/QUOTE]
It's Venus, not Jupiter.
[QUOTE=Quo Vadi;21972856]the surface of jupiter is a massive cauldron of simple elements liquified, of course wind could pick up speed quickly over such a plain surface
see, i figured that out without the need for billions of dollars of equipment[/QUOTE]
But it's venus, not jupiter
[editline]01:44AM[/editline]
rated late
[QUOTE=SteeleCratos;21973091]About damn time you made another thread. I was about to think that you'd given up[/QUOTE]
I didn't notice the OP's name but when I read your comment I instantly scrolled up looking for PrismatexV8.
I guess that's become a problem for me :ohdear:
[QUOTE=Smoot;21973110]It's Venus, not Jupiter.[/QUOTE]
oh
Speaking of jupiter, why didn't they equip the atmospheric probe that they dropped into it's atmosphere with a camera? :raise:
[QUOTE=STREWTH_99;21973612]Speaking of jupiter, why didn't they equip the atmospheric probe that they dropped into it's atmosphere with a camera? :raise:[/QUOTE]
I don't think so. They had other instruments, but the high g (230 gravities) and the obscenely high pressure would have crushed any camera.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;21973675]I don't think so. They had other instruments, but the high g (230 gravities) and the obscenely high pressure would have crushed any camera.[/QUOTE]
you wouldn't need to go so low in the atmosphere as to experience the pressure and there's been equipment survive much higher forces than that
i mean, the only thing gravity itself could do to equipment is spaghettify it and 230 g wouldn't even come close to spaghettification
[QUOTE=Quo Vadi;21973746]you wouldn't need to go so low in the atmosphere as to experience the pressure and there's been equipment survive much higher forces than that
i mean, the only thing gravity itself could do to equipment is spaghettify it and 230 g wouldn't even come close to spaghettification[/QUOTE]
Well then someone tell NASA that we like pictures more than graphs.
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;21973951]Well then someone tell NASA that we like pictures more than graphs.[/QUOTE]
Yeah but making a pie graph is easier than getting one picture of something around 1 million KM away
[QUOTE=Eudoxia;21973951]Well then someone tell NASA that we like pictures more than graphs.[/QUOTE]The Soviets managed to get a camera onto a large number of their Venera probes, I don't see why NASA couldn't give it a try as well.
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