22 October 1975, 05:13 UTC: The lander from the Soviet space probe Venera 9 touched down on the surface of the planet Venus, at approximately 32° south latitude, 291° east longitude.
The images and other data was transmitted to an orbiting section of Venera 9 for relay to Earth. The lander sent signals for approximately 53 minutes before the orbiter traveled out of range.
Venera 9 had been launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Proton-K rocket, 8 June 1975. The space probe weighed 4,936 kilograms (10,882 pounds).
Once in orbit around Venus, the spacecraft separated into the orbiter and lander. As the lander descended to the surface, data was collected about the planet’s atmosphere. A 40-kilometer (25-mile) deep layer of clouds was studied. The cloud bases were about 35–40 kilometers (22–25 miles) above the surface. The clouds contained hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid, bromine and iodine.
At the planet’s surface the atmospheric pressure was 90 times that of Earth’s. The temperature was measured at 485 °C. (905 °F.).
© 2016, Bryan R. Swopes
Hi Bryan, Correct me if I’m wrong, But isn’t longitudes highest number180°. East or West
I really don’t under stand how 291° East would work. I sorry if I’m just being a moron.LOL
It must be different on Venus: Wikipedia shows 31.01°N, 291.64°E… NASA’s website says 290.64° east….
I’ll try and look in to this..
Ok this one is a little weird, From what I can tell there is no East, West on Venus ref. (Venus Geologic Mappers 1 Handbook ,USGS OFR 93-516) https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1993/0516/report.pdf It really kind of interesting. I know this is kind of doing overboard, Sorry it just caught my attention.
Learn a new thing every day! Thank you for the link, Tom! And of course thank you, Bryan, for another interesting blogpost!
Thank you, Hartmut. I am very happy that you enjoyed it.
A 0 to 360 longitudinal scale is not uncommon. On Earth we are used to to +\- 180 longitudinal scale which 0 degrees is anchored at Greenwich England which also anchors our time reference (GMT). So in a way, east and west longitude also serves as a reference for time ahead of and behind GMT. Without a need for a time reference, a 0 to 360 degree makes sense for a planetary body.
For some solar references, Carrington Longitude is a 0 to 360 range for tracking solar features as the Sun rotates. In other cases, a +/- 180 degree reference centered on the central observable solar longitude (Stoneyhurst Coordinates) is more useful for referencing solar features relative to Earth’s point of view.
Both types of frame references are used. The choice depends on the application. A 360 longitudinal reference system for the Venusian surface seems fine and not unusual.
Very interesting, Steve. Thank you.
Landing a functional probe on Venus is actually pretty amazing given the pressure and temperature on the surface. It must have been quite a robust device. No place for humans.