This week's CSI is of the planet Venus. This novel image comes to us from
the Magellan spacecraft, a free-flyer whose primary scientific instrument
is something called Synthetic Aperture Radar or SAR. SAR has the ability
to look through the clouds that obscure the surface of Venus. Its primary
objective was to map the surface of Venus which, for many years, was
considered a twin planet of Earth, an imaginary world of swamps, forests
and strange creatures lurking beneath the planet's thick blanket of carbon
dioxide clouds. Now we know better. The planet surface is hot as heck --
about 900 degrees Fahrenheit -- and the pressure there is about 90 times
greater than the Earth's.
Magellan was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1989 and arrived
at Venus about 15 months later. Its images have helped planetary
scientists reach a better understanding of Venus and lay to rest some of
the mysteries of this neighboring planet.
