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Designed for long-term observation of the Venusian atmosphere, Venus Express operated in harsh radiation, 155 million miles (250 million km) from Earth. Its orbit decayed Jan/Feb 2015. As NatlGeographic put it the "intrepid robot slipped into a sulfuric hereafter"
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#UnmannedExploration
illustration (not a photo) via ESAspacescience : An artist's impression of the orbit insertion in 2006 of the ESA's Venus Express interplanetary probe, that was sent to become a temporary satellite of the planet Venus. It passed within 200 km over the Venusian north pole, and passed as low as 130km over the planet surface on its closest approach. Originally on a 2-year mission, it lasted for more than 9 years in the end. After multiple orbits and out of on-board fuel, the spacecraft would have been irretrievably caught by Venusian gravity, collided with the planet's atmosphere, crumpled and scorched, before it hit the surface of the planet, that National Geographic calls "Earth's Hellish Sister". "Surface pressures are 90 times higher than on Earth, and visitors are not tolerated for long." Probably burned up or blew up or imploded as it plunged into the planet's atmosphere. Contact was lost well before its ultimate demise. https://web.archive.org/web/20141218020323/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141217-venus-express-final-plunge-space-science/
April 18, 2026 at 2:31 AM