We might one day capable to plunge a new extensive geographic expedition campaign to Venus , as investigator at NASA ’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio have reach a circuit that can defy the extreme conditions of the planet . The inquiry was published in the American Institute of Physics journalAIP Advances .
The circumference board is made of silicon carbide and make it in simulated Venus conditions for 521 hours , 100 times farseeing than any antecedently tested fabric and much longer than any investigation that has been sent to Venus before – namely one sole NASA mission in 1978 and the Soviet Union ’s Venera series of landers in the 60s , seventy , and fourscore . The latter ’s retentive surviving probe on the surface lasted just a little over 2 hour , so it ’s a rather significant improvement .
The breakthrough in how to get a computer work there was only potential thanks to the unexampled atomic number 14 carbide semiconductor unit . Silicon chip shot blockade functioning by rights at half the temperature of Venus , but Si carbide can withstand high temperature and mellow voltages , and is being researched for its likely software both in the military and in diligence . The engineering is very much in its development stage , so do n’t expect Venus rovers anytime presently , but it could allow for protract geographic expedition of Venus in the time to come .
This so - call “ Earth twin ” is a live inferno . The aerofoil temperature is around 470 ° atomic number 6 ( 880 ° F ) , which is hot enough to melt tether , and its air is so heavy that ground pressure is tantamount to being 900 metre ( 3,000 feet ) underwater . If all this was n’t enough , before pass the inferno you have to fly through clouds made of sulfuric acid .
Venus , though , reallly does n’t get as much pressure as it merit . Yes , it might not be attractive for find lifeforms , but its upper standard atmosphere the mostEarth - like environmentanywhere outside our planet . Just 50 kilometers ( 30 miles ) from the aerofoil , the temperature is a more suited 75 ° one C ( 167 ° F ) , and while it ’s hotter than anywhere on Earth , it ’s also very well-fixed to shield against .
Mars still stay on the first aim for manhood ’s interplanetary future , but presently we ’re last to have the correct technology to explore Venus as well as we are getting to know the Red Planet .
[ H / T : Ars Technica ]
