Why Has Earth Sent So Many Spacecraft to Our Evil Twin Planet?

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is close in size to Earth.

Because of this, scientists sometimes call Venus Earth's "twin planet."

However, Venus is very different from Earth in many ways.

The surface of Venus is extremely hot, reaching temperatures of about 465 degrees Celsius.

The thick atmosphere of Venus is full of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid clouds.

Humans have been curious about Venus for thousands of years.

Early astronomers could see Venus in the sky without a telescope because it is very bright.

The space age began in the 1950s, and soon countries started sending spacecraft to explore Venus.

The Soviet Union was the first to send a probe toward Venus in 1961.

In 1970, the Soviet Venera 7 spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Venus.

This was the first time any spacecraft had landed on another planet and sent data back to Earth.

The surface conditions were so harsh that the Venera 7 probe only survived for about 23 minutes.

Later Soviet probes took photographs of the rocky surface of Venus.

The United States also sent spacecraft to study Venus, including the Mariner and Pioneer missions.

In 1990, NASA's Magellan spacecraft used radar to map almost the entire surface of Venus.

Scientists discovered that Venus has volcanoes, mountains, and large flat plains.

The European Space Agency sent the Venus Express spacecraft, which studied the planet's atmosphere from 2006 to 2014.

Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft entered Venus orbit in 2015 and continues to study its weather and clouds.

Scientists are now planning new missions to Venus in the 2030s to learn even more about this mysterious planet.

Exploring Venus helps us understand how planets change over time and what Earth's future might look like.