Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Overview
- Prologue
- A note on scientific units
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Views of Venus, from the beginning to the present day
- Chapter 1 The dawn of Venus exploration
- Chapter 2 Mariner and Venera
- Chapter 3 Pioneer Venus and Vega
- Chapter 4 Images of the surface
- Chapter 5 The forgotten world
- Chapter 6 Earth-based astronomy delivers a breakthrough
- Chapter 7 Can’t stop now
- Chapter 8 Europe and Japan Join In
- Part II The motivation to continue the quest
- Part III Plans and visions for the future
- Epilogue
- References and acknowledgements
- Appendix A Chronology of space missions to Venus
- Appendix B Data about Venus
- Index
- Plate section
Chapter 4 - Images of the surface
from Part I - Views of Venus, from the beginning to the present day
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Overview
- Prologue
- A note on scientific units
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Views of Venus, from the beginning to the present day
- Chapter 1 The dawn of Venus exploration
- Chapter 2 Mariner and Venera
- Chapter 3 Pioneer Venus and Vega
- Chapter 4 Images of the surface
- Chapter 5 The forgotten world
- Chapter 6 Earth-based astronomy delivers a breakthrough
- Chapter 7 Can’t stop now
- Chapter 8 Europe and Japan Join In
- Part II The motivation to continue the quest
- Part III Plans and visions for the future
- Epilogue
- References and acknowledgements
- Appendix A Chronology of space missions to Venus
- Appendix B Data about Venus
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
The first glimpses of the surface using radar from Earth
The surface of Venus has long been hidden from human eyes by the thick veil of clouds, leading, as we have seen, to all kinds of speculation about what lies beneath. However, radar can be bounced from the surface and the recorded echoes synthesised into a picture, and today most of our detailed knowledge and mapping of the surface has been obtained in this way. To get good resolution, and to cover the polar regions, the radar equipment needs to be on a spacecraft orbiting Venus.
However, before the first mission to carry radar flew to Venus in 1978, remarkable progress had been made in obtaining pictures of the surface using the same technique all the way from the Earth. This requires a very large dish antenna to transmit and receive the pulses, and those at Goldstone in California and at Arecibo in Puerto Rico were the first to be pressed into service.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Scientific Exploration of Venus , pp. 48 - 63Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014