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The Surface of Venus as Revealed by Venera 9 and 10 Probes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

C.P. Florensky*
Affiliation:
V.I. Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analythical Chemistry USSR Academy of Sciences Moscow, USSR

Extract

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The landers Venera 9 and 10 transmitted to Earth television pictures of the immediate vicinities of landing sites. The pictures were taken by optical-mechanical panoramic cameras looking from view-ports at about 0,9 meter above the ground. The nominal field of view is 40°x l80°. The width of one element of the picture (camera resolution) is 21 minutes of arc. The pictures were subsequently treated by computer enhancement. The first results of panorama analysis were published elsewhere (1,4).

Venera 9 landed at the point 32°N, 291°E on the rather steep (˜20°) slope covered by angular sharp-edged rock fragments. The fragments have a horizontal dimension of up to 50 or 70 cm, and a vertical dimension of no more than 15 to 20 cm. Some of the fragments demonstrate the evidence of layering approximately parallel to the flattening of fragments. The surface between fragments is darker than the fragment surfaces of the same orientation and seems to be composed mainly of particles of a size less than the resolution of the camera. The on-board gamma-spectrometer reveals that the radioactivity of the surface at Venera 9 site is similar to radioactivity of basaltic rocks of the Earth ( 2 ).

Type
Joint Dicussions
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1977

References

Florensky, C.P., Basilevsky, A.T., Zasetsky, V.V., Trakhman, A.M., 1976, First panoramas of Venus. Priroda (Nature), n.8, p. 1621, (in Russian).Google Scholar
Surkov Yu., A., Kirnozov, F.F., Glazov, V.N., Dunchenko, A.G., Tatziy, L.P., 1976, The abundance of natural radionuclides at Venusian rocks from the date of Venera 9 and 10. Kosmicheskie issledovania 14, p. 5, 704-709 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Surkov Ju., A., Kirnozov, F.F., Khristianov, V. K., Korchuganov, B.N., Glazov, V. N., Ivanov, V.F., 1976, The density of the rocks of Venus surface from the data of Venus 10. Kosmicheskie issledovania, 14, n. 5, 697703, (in Russian).Google Scholar
Vinogradov, A.P., Florensky, C.P., Basilevsky, A.T., Selivanov, A.S., 1976, First panoramas of Venus surface (preliminary analysis of pictures), USSR Akad. Nauk Doklady, 228, n. 3, pp 570573, (in Russian).Google Scholar