Banyan tree roots in Hong Kong
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So Venus is my favorite planet in the solar system - everything about it is just so weird.
ALTIt has this extraordinarily dense atmosphere that by all accounts shouldn't exist - Venus is close enough to the sun (and therefore hot enough) that the atmosphere should have literally evaporated away, just like Mercury's. We think Earth manages to keep its atmosphere by virtue of our magnetic field, but Venus doesn't even have that going for it. While Venus is probably volcanically active, it definitely doesn't have an internal magnetic dynamo, so whatever form of volcanism it has going on is very different from ours. And, it spins backwards! For some reason!!
But, for as many mysteries as Venus has, the United States really hasn't spent much time investigating it. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, sent no less than 16 probes to Venus between 1961 and 1984 as part of the Venera program - most of them looked like this!
ALTThe Soviet Union had a very different approach to space than the United States. NASA missions are typically extremely risk averse, and the spacecraft we launch are generally very expensive one-offs that have only one chance to succeed or fail.
It's lead to some really amazing science, but to put it into perspective, the Mars Opportunity rover only had to survive on Mars for 90 days for the mission to be declared a complete success. That thing lasted 15 years. I love the Opportunity rover as much as any self-respecting NASA engineer, but how much extra time and money did we spend that we didn't technically "need" to for it to last 60x longer than required?
Anyway, all to say, the Soviet Union took a more incremental approach, where failures were far less devastating. The Venera 9 through 14 probes were designed to land on the surface of Venus, and survive long enough to take a picture with two cameras - not an easy task, but a fairly straightforward goal compared to NASA standards. They had…mixed results.
- Venera 9 managed to take a picture with one camera, but the other one's lens cap didn't deploy.
- Venera 10 also managed to take a picture with one camera, but again the other lens cap didn't deploy.
- Venera 11 took no pictures - neither lens cap deployed this time.
- Venera 12 also took no pictures - because again, neither lens cap deployed.
Lotta problems with lens caps.
For Venera 13 and 14, in addition to the cameras they sent a device to sample the Venusian "soil". Upon landing, the arm was supposed to swing down and analyze the surface it touched - it was a simple mechanism that couldn't be re-deployed or adjusted after the first go.
This time, both lens caps FINALLY ejected perfectly, and we were treated to these marvelous, eerie pictures of the Venus landscape:
ALTHowever, when the Venera 14 soil sampler arm deployed, instead of sampling the Venus surface, it managed to swing down and land perfectly on….an ejected lens cap.
I’m glad ppl on tiktok are doing ok
good lord
YEAH I GOT NOTHING
i don’t understand a single sentence in this and i’m ok with that
I haven’t stopped saying “it’s called quantum jumping, babe”
I would genuinely like to know who to blame for making these children so disconnected from the concept of imagination that they think the simpler explanation for what they’re doing is that they’re projecting their consciousness into one of infinite realities where fictional characters are real.
topical :/
WHY IS IT TOPICAL
Me shouting at my rash ointment
great post everyone
ant queen: iam so dehydrated and full of eggs can smebody get me a class of water.... ogf
the HUD in the corner of her vision at all times:
larva3847 has begun to pupate! 😯
larva3848 has begun to pupate! 😯
antwarrior234579 has died in battle! 😨
antwarrior225680 has died in battle! 😨
antwarrior234236 has died in battle! 😨
larva3849 has begun to pupate! 😯
you would make this post
antwarrior214267 has been deployed! 😈
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The colony is under attack! 😱
DOORHEAD13 has been deployed! 🫡
Normies talking about getting whiplash from recipe blogs. You know nothing
[ID: An AO3 author’s note reading, “Sorry for vanishing, I did a little too much research on cults an coercive control for Damian’s arc, and then realized I was raised in a cult, and THEN I ran away to a fishing town cabin on the other side of the country and had to start learning to be a person in the real world. I also forgot how to write. But I’m learning again, so I’m back now! Have some more.” The “I” in “I was raised in a cult” is emphasized by sparking emojis, and the note is ended with heart emojis. /end ID]
Aaaand THIS is one of the many reasons why it’s not only not a bad thing to portray dark subject matter, but EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to do so!! You can learn a lot when writing, and others can learn a lot when reading! This can save lives, dudes.
I am so proud of the author though. That took multiple kinds of courage at once. Good job, author.
