首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
相似文献
 共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 31 毫秒
1.
The European Venus Explorer (EVE) mission described in this paper was proposed in December 2010 to ESA as an ‘M-class’ mission under the Cosmic Vision programme. It consists of a single balloon platform floating in the middle of the main convective cloud layer of Venus at an altitude of 55?km, where temperatures and pressures are benign (~25°C and ~0.5 bar). The balloon float lifetime would be at least 10 Earth days, long enough to guarantee at least one full circumnavigation of the planet. This offers an ideal platform for the two main science goals of the mission: study of the current climate through detailed characterization of cloud-level atmosphere, and investigation of the formation and evolution of Venus, through careful measurement of noble gas isotopic abundances. These investigations would provide key data for comparative planetology of terrestrial planets in our solar system and beyond.  相似文献   

2.
《Planetary and Space Science》2007,55(12):1701-1711
The Venus Express mission will focus on a global investigation of the Venus atmosphere and plasma environment, while additionally measuring some surface properties from orbit. The instruments PFS and SPICAV inherited from the Mars Express mission and VIRTIS from Rosetta form a powerful spectrometric and spectro-imaging payload suite. Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC)—a miniature wide-angle camera with 17.5° field of view—was specifically designed and built to complement these experiments and provide imaging context for the whole mission. VMC will take images of Venus in four narrow band filters (365, 513, 965, and 1000 nm) all sharing one CCD. Spatial resolution on the cloud tops will range from 0.2 km/px at pericentre to 45 km/px at apocentre when the full Venus disc will be in the field of view. VMC will fulfill the following science goals: (1) study of the distribution and nature of the unknown UV absorber; (2) determination of the wind field at the cloud tops (70 km) by tracking the UV features; (3) thermal mapping of the surface in the 1 μm transparency “window” on the night side; (4) determination of the global wind field in the main cloud deck (50 km) by tracking near-IR features; (5) study of the lapse rate and H2O content in the lower 6–10 km; (6) mapping O2 night-glow and its variability.  相似文献   

3.
Mars environment and magnetic orbiter model payload   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
Mars Environment and Magnetic Orbiter was proposed as an answer to the Cosmic Vision Call of Opportunity as a M-class mission. The MEMO mission is designed to study the strong interconnections between the planetary interior, atmosphere and solar conditions essential to understand planetary evolution, the appearance of life and its sustainability. MEMO provides a high-resolution, complete, mapping of the magnetic field (below an altitude of about 250 km), with an yet unachieved full global coverage. This is combined with an in situ characterization of the high atmosphere and remote sensing of the middle and lower atmospheres, with an unmatched accuracy. These measurements are completed by an improved detection of the gravity field signatures associated with carbon dioxide cycle and to the tidal deformation. In addition the solar wind, solar EUV/UV and energetic particle fluxes are simultaneously and continuously monitored. The challenging scientific objectives of the MEMO mission proposal are fulfilled with the appropriate scientific instruments and orbit strategy. MEMO is composed of a main platform, placed on a elliptical (130 × 1,000 km), non polar (77° inclination) orbit, and of an independent, higher apoapsis (10,000 km) and low periapsis (300 km) micro-satellite. These orbital parameters are designed so that the scientific return of MEMO is maximized, in terms of measurement altitude, local time, season and geographical coverage. MEMO carry several suites of instruments, made of an ‘exospheric-upper atmosphere’ package, a ‘magnetic field’ package, and a ‘low-middle atmosphere’ package. Nominal mission duration is one Martian year.  相似文献   

4.
Observations of the dayside of Venus performed by the high spectral resolution channel (–H) of the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board the ESA Venus Express mission have been used to measure the altitude of the cloud tops and the water vapor abundance around this level with a spatial resolution ranging from 100 to 10 km. CO2 and H2O bands between 2.48 and 2.60 μm are analyzed to determine the cloud top altitude and water vapor abundance near this level. At low latitudes (±40°) mean water vapor abundance is equal to 3 ± 1 ppm and the corresponding cloud top altitude at 2.5 μm is equal to 69.5 ± 2 km. Poleward from middle latitudes the cloud top altitude gradually decreases down to 64 km, while the average H2O abundance reaches its maximum of 5 ppm at 80° of latitude with a large scatter from 1 to 15 ppm. The calculated mass percentage of the sulfuric acid solution in cloud droplets of mode 2 (~1 μm) particles is in the range 75–83%, being in even more narrow interval of 80–83% in low latitudes. No systematic correlation of the dark UV markings with the cloud top altitude or water vapor has been observed.  相似文献   

5.
The mean, solar-fixed horizontal and vertical distribution of water vapor in and above the Venusian cloud layer is presented. This is derived from far-infrared measurements made by the Orbiter Infrared Radiometer (OIR) instrument of the Pioneer Venus mission in the rotation band of water vapor at 45 μm, and from the mean solar-fixed temperature field and cloud structure retrieved from temperature soundings by the same instrument in five spectral channels. The water vapor retrieval scheme is discussed together with the calculation of water vapor transmission functions and their experimental verification. The sensitivity of the results to measurement errors and cloud microphysical properties is also considered. Mean water vapor column abundances above cloud unit optical depth at 11.5 μm are found to be greatest at equatorial latitudes in the early afternoon, reaching 50 ± 20 precipitable microns (100 ppm), and fall to less than 3 ± 2 precipitable microns (6 ppm) on the nightside of the planet. On the nightside mixing ratios fall monotonically with altitude, whereas dayside mixing ratios frequently increase with altitude near cloud unit optical depth. These results are broadly consistent with those of earlier Earth-based measurements.  相似文献   

6.
《Planetary and Space Science》2007,55(12):1636-1652
Venus Express is the first European mission to planet Venus. The mission aims at a comprehensive investigation of Venus atmosphere and plasma environment and will address some important aspects of the surface physics from orbit. In particular, Venus Express will focus on the structure, composition, and dynamics of the Venus atmosphere, escape processes and interaction of the atmosphere with the solar wind and so to provide answers to the many questions that still remain unanswered in these fields. Venus Express will enable a breakthrough in Venus science after a long period of silence since the period of intense exploration in the 1970s and the 1980s.The payload consists of seven instruments. Five of them were inherited from the Mars Express and Rosetta projects while two instruments were designed and built specifically for Venus Express. The suite of spectrometers and imaging instruments, together with the radio-science experiment, and the plasma package make up an optimised payload well capable of addressing the mission goals to sufficient depth. Several of the instruments will make specific use of the spectral windows at infrared wavelengths in order to study the atmosphere in three dimensions. The spacecraft is based on the Mars Express design with minor modifications mainly needed to cope with the thermal environment around Venus, and so a very cost-effective mission has been realised in an exceptionally short time.The spacecraft was launched on 9 November 2005 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, by a Russian Soyuz-Fregat launcher and arrived at Venus on 11 April 2006. Venus Express will carry out observations of the planet from a highly elliptic polar orbit with a 24-h period. In 3 Earth years (4 Venus sidereal days) of operations, it will return about 2 Tbit of scientific data.Telecommunications with the Earth is performed by the new ESA ground station in Cebreros, Spain, while a nearly identical ground station in New Norcia, Australia, supports the radio-science investigations.  相似文献   

7.
We investigate the Venus cloud top structure by joint analysis of the data from Visual and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) and the atmospheric temperature sounding by the Radio Science experiment (VeRa) onboard Venus Express. The cloud top altitude and aerosol scale height are derived by fitting VIRTIS spectra at 4–5 μm with temperature profiles taken from the VeRa radio occultation. Our study shows gradual descent of the cloud top from 67.2 ± 1.9 km in low latitudes to 62.8 ± 4.1 km at the pole and decrease of the aerosol scale height from 3.8 ± 1.6 km to 1.7 ± 2.4 km. These changes correlate with the mesospheric temperature field. In the cold collar and high latitudes the cloud top position remarkably coincides with the sharp minima in temperature inversions suggesting importance of radiative cooling in their maintenance. This behaviour is consistent with the earlier observations. Spectral trend of the cloud top altitude derived from a comparison with the earlier observations in 1.6–27 μm wavelength range is qualitatively consistent with sulphuric acid composition of the upper cloud and suggests that particle size increases from equator to pole.  相似文献   

8.
《Planetary and Space Science》2006,54(13-14):1249-1262
An overview is given of current knowledge and mysteries about the planet Venus, with emphasis on those aspects that are intended to be studied with the Venus Express mission following orbit insertion at the planet in March 2006.  相似文献   

9.
《Planetary and Space Science》2006,54(13-14):1298-1314
The planetary fourier spectrometer (PFS) for the Venus Express mission is an infrared spectrometer optimized for atmospheric studies. This instrument has a short wavelength (SW) channel that covers the spectral range from 1700 to 11400 cm−1 (0.9–5.5 μm) and a long wavelength (LW) channel that covers 250–1700 cm−1 (5.5–45 μm). Both channels have a uniform spectral resolution of 1.3 cm−1. The instrument field of view FOV is about 1.6 ° (FWHM) for the short wavelength channel and 2.8 ° for the LW channel which corresponds to a spatial resolution of 7 and 12 km when Venus is observed from an altitude of 250 km. PFS can provide unique data necessary to improve our knowledge not only of the atmospheric properties but also surface properties (temperature) and the surface-atmosphere interaction (volcanic activity).PFS works primarily around the pericentre of the orbit, only occasionally observing Venus from larger distances. Each measurements takes 4.5 s, with a repetition time of 11.5 s. By working roughly 1.5 h around pericentre, a total of 460 measurements per orbit will be acquired plus 60 for calibrations. PFS is able to take measurements at all local times, enabling the retrieval of atmospheric vertical temperature profiles on both the day and the night side.The PFS measures a host of atmospheric and surface phenomena on Venus. These include the:(1) thermal surface flux at several wavelengths near 1 μm, with concurrent constraints on surface temperature and emissivity (indicative of composition); (2) the abundances of several highly-diagnostic trace molecular species; (3) atmospheric temperatures from 55 to 100 km altitude; (4) cloud opacities and cloud-tracked winds in the lower-level cloud layers near 50-km altitudes; (5) cloud top pressures of the uppermost haze/cloud region near 70–80 km altitude; and (6) oxygen airglow near the 100 km level. All of these will be observed repeatedly during the 500-day nominal mission of Venus Express to yield an increased understanding of meteorological, dynamical, photochemical, and thermo-chemical processes in the Venus atmosphere. Additionally, PFS will search for and characterize current volcanic activity through spatial and temporal anomalies in both the surface thermal flux and the abundances of volcanic trace species in the lower atmosphere.Measurement of the 15 μm CO2 band is very important. Its profile gives, by means of a complex temperature profile retrieval technique, the vertical pressure-temperature relation, basis of the global atmospheric study.PFS is made of four modules called O, E, P and S being, respectively, the interferometer and proximity electronics, the digital control unit, the power supply and the pointing device.  相似文献   

10.
Since the discovery of ultraviolet markings on Venus, their observations have been a powerful tool to study the morphology, motions and dynamical state at the cloud top level. Here we present the results of investigation of the cloud top morphology performed by the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) during more than 3 years of the Venus Express mission. The camera acquires images in four narrow-band filters centered at 365, 513, 965 and 1010 nm with spatial resolution from 50 km at apocentre to a few hundred of meters at pericentre. The VMC experiment provides a significant improvement in the Venus imaging as compared to the capabilities of the earlier missions. The camera discovered new cloud features like bright “lace clouds” and cloud columns at the low latitudes, dark polar oval and narrow circular and spiral “grooves” in the polar regions, different types of waves at the high latitudes. The VMC observations revealed detailed structure of the sub-solar region and the afternoon convective wake, the bow-shape features and convective cells, the mid-latitude transition region and the “polar cap”. The polar orbit of the satellite enables for the first time nadir viewing of the Southern polar regions and an opportunity to zoom in on the planet. The experiment returned numerous images of the Venus limb and documented global and local brightening events. VMC provided almost continuous monitoring of the planet with high temporal resolution that allowed one to follow changes in the cloud morphology at various scales.We present the in-flight performance of the instrument and focus in particular on the data from the ultraviolet channel, centered at the characteristic wavelength of the unknown UV absorber that yields the highest contrasts on the cloud top. Low latitudes are dominated by relatively dark clouds that have mottled and fragmented appearance clearly indicating convective activity in the sub-solar region. At ~50° latitude this pattern gives way to streaky clouds suggesting that horizontal, almost laminar, flow prevails here. Poleward from about 60°S the planet is covered by almost featureless bright polar hood sometimes crossed by dark narrow (~300 km) spiral or circular structures. This global cloud pattern can change on time scales of a few days resulting in global and local “brightening events” when the bright haze can extend far into low latitudes and/or increase its brightness by 30%. Close-up snapshots reveal plenty of morphological details like convective cells, cloud streaks, cumulus-like columns, wave trains. Different kinds of small scale waves are frequently observed at the cloud top. The wave activity is mainly observed in the 65–80° latitude band and is in particular concentrated in the region of Ishtar Terra that suggests their possible orographic origin. The VMC observations have important implications for the problems of the unknown UV absorber, microphysical processes, dynamics and radiative energy balance at the cloud tops. They are only briefly discussed in the paper, but each of them will be the subject of a dedicated study.  相似文献   

11.
Statistics on the temporal variability of uv cloud features on Venus during 66 days of nominal mission imaging by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter Cloud Photopolarimeter reveal at least five types of systematic variability on large scales: (1) a low-latitude global-scale wave of period 3.94 ± 0.1 days corresponding to longitudinal motion of the dark equatorial band and propagating westward relative to the mean flow; (2) a midlatitude wave of period 5.20 ± 0.2 days corresponding to wavenumber 1 oscillations of the latitude of the bright polar bands and propagating eastward relative to the mean flow; (3) ~2- to 3-week fluctuations in the slope of longitudinal cloud brightness power spectra at intermediate wavenumbers manifested by variations in the intensity of large bow-shaped features; (4) ~2-month variations in polar region brightness consistent with polar brightening episodes observed from Earth; and (5) a monotonic decrease in the disk-integrated brightness of Venus during the nominal mission which may be either a true time variation or a solar-locked longitudinal dependence of brightness. Small-scale features appear to correlate with large-scale albedo patterns. Specifically, cellular features exist primarily where large-scale dark material is present, while the orientation of streak features with respect to latitude circles oscillates with the same ~4-day period as the large-scale features at low latitudes. The wide range of time scales present in the data suggests the complexity of Venus stratospheric dynamics. Extended observations over many years may be becessary to define the general circulation.  相似文献   

12.
The 1.02 μm wavelength thermal emission of the nightside of Venus is strongly anti-correlated to the elevation of the surface. The VIRTIS instrument on Venus Express has mapped this emission and therefore gives evidence for the orientation of Venus between 2006 and 2008. The Magellan mission provided a global altimetry data set recorded between 1990 and 1992. Comparison of these two data sets reveals a deviation in longitude indicating that the rotation of the planet is not fully described by the orientation model recommended by the IAU. This deviation is sufficiently large to affect estimates of surface emissivity from infrared imaging. A revised period of rotation of Venus of 243.023 ± 0.002 d aligns the two data sets. This period of rotation agrees with pre-Magellan estimates but is significantly different from the commonly accepted value of 243.0185 ± 0.0001 d estimated from Magellan radar images. It is possible that this discrepancy stems from a length of day variation with the value of 243.023 ± 0.002 d representing the average of the rotation period over 16 years.  相似文献   

13.
The dynamics of Venus’ mesosphere (60–100 km altitude) was investigated using data acquired by the radio-occultation experiment VeRa on board Venus Express. VeRa provides vertical profiles of density, temperature and pressure between 40 and 90 km of altitude with a vertical resolution of few hundred meters of both the Northern and Southern hemisphere. Pressure and temperature vertical profiles were used to derive zonal winds by applying an approximation of the Navier–Stokes equation, the cyclostrophic balance, which applies well on slowly rotating planets with fast zonal winds, like Venus and Titan. The main features of the retrieved winds are a midlatitude jet with a maximum speed up to 140 ± 15 m s?1 which extends between 20°S and 50°S latitude at 70 km altitude and a decrease of wind speed with increasing height above the jet. Cyclostrophic winds show satisfactory agreement with the cloud-tracked winds derived from the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC/VEx) UV images, although a disagreement is observed at the equator and near the pole due to the breakdown of the cyclostrophic approximation. Knowledge of both temperature and wind fields allowed us to study the stability of the atmosphere with respect to convection and turbulence. The Richardson number Ri was evaluated from zonal field of measured temperatures and thermal winds. The atmosphere is characterised by a low value of Richardson number from ~45 km up to ~60 km altitude at all latitudes that corresponds to the lower and middle cloud layer indicating an almost adiabatic atmosphere. A high value of Richardson number was found in the region of the midlatitude jet indicating a highly stable atmosphere. The necessary condition for barotropic instability was verified: it is satisfied on the poleward side of the midlatitude jet, indicating the possible presence of wave instability.  相似文献   

14.
A new phase of Venus research has started in Russia; the Federal Space Program includes the Venera-D design with the launch of the spacecraft scheduled for 2016. The mission comprises an orbiter, a descent vehicle, and balloon probes. The balloon probes will be placed at different altitudes in the cloud layer and under the clouds, where they are intended to last for a long time in the atmosphere of Venus. The successful implementation of the design will allow solving of quite a number of scientific tasks for comparative planetology.  相似文献   

15.
The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), a 3-dimensional Earth-based climate model, has been modified to simulate the dynamics of the Venus atmosphere. The most current finite volume version of CAM is used with Earth-related processes removed, parameters appropriate for Venus introduced, and some basic physics approximations adopted. A simplified Newtonian cooling approximation has been used for the radiation scheme. We use a high resolution (1° by 1° in latitude and longitude) to take account of small-scale dynamical processes that might be important on Venus. A Rayleigh friction approach is used at the lower boundary to represent surface drag, and a similar approach is implemented in the uppermost few model levels providing a ‘sponge layer’ to prevent wave reflection from the upper boundary. The simulations generate superrotation with wind velocities comparable to those measured in the Venus atmosphere by probes and around 50-60% of those measured by cloud tracking. At cloud heights and above the atmosphere is always superrotating with mid-latitude zonal jets that wax and wane on an approximate 10 year cycle. However, below the clouds, the zonal winds vary periodically on a decadal timescale between superrotation and subrotation. Both subrotating and superrotating mid-latitude jets are found in the approximate 40-60 km altitude range. The growth and decay of the sub-cloud level jets also occur on the decadal timescale. Though subrotating zonal winds are found below the clouds, the total angular momentum of the atmosphere is always in the sense of superrotation. The global relative angular momentum of the atmosphere oscillates with an amplitude of about 5% on the approximate 10 year timescale. Symmetric instability in the near surface equatorial atmosphere might be the source of the decadal oscillation in the atmospheric state. Analyses of angular momentum transport show that all the jets are built up by poleward transport by a meridional circulation while angular momentum is redistributed to lower latitudes primarily by transient eddies. Possible changes in the structure of Venus’ cloud level mid-latitude jets measured by Mariner 10, Pioneer Venus, and Venus Express suggest that a cyclic variation similar to that found in the model might occur in the real Venus atmosphere, although no subrotating winds below the cloud level have been observed to date. Venus’ atmosphere must be observed over multi-year timescales and below the clouds if we are to understand its dynamics.  相似文献   

16.
Observations of Venus using the ultraviolet filter of the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on ESA’s Venus Express Spacecraft (VEX) provide the best opportunity for study of the spatial and temporal distribution of the venusian unknown ultraviolet absorber since the Pioneer Venus (PV) mission. We compare the results of two sets of 125 radiative transfer models of the upper atmosphere of Venus to each pixel in a subset of VMC UV channel images. We use a quantitative best fit criterion based upon the notion that the distribution of the unknown absorber should be independent of the illumination and observing geometry. We use the product of the cosines of the incidence and emission angles and search for absorber distributions that are uncorrelated with this geometric parameter, finding that two models can describe the vertical distribution of the unknown absorber. One model is a well-mixed vertical profile above a pressure level of roughly 120 mb (~63 km). This is consistent with the altitude of photochemical formation of sulfuric acid. The second model describes it as a thin layer of pure UV absorber at a pressure level roughly around 24 mb (~71 km) and this altitude is consistent with the top of upper cloud deck. We find that the average abundance of unknown absorber in the equatorial region is 0.21 ± 0.04 optical depth and it decreases in the polar region to 0.08 ± 0.05 optical depth at 365 nm.  相似文献   

17.
The ESA/Venus Express mission spent more than 8 years in orbit around Venus to extensively study its atmosphere, ionosphere and plasma environment and unveil new aspects of its surface. Extensive reviews of the work of Venus Express are underway, to cover in-depth studies of the new face of Venus revealed by Venus Express and ground-based concurrent observations. This paper intends to give a summarized and wide overview of some of the outstanding results in all the science areas studied by the mission. This paper will first review the main aspects of the mission and its instrumental payload. Then, a selection of results will be reviewed from the outermost layers interacting with the Solar wind, down to the surface of Venus. As Venus Express is already considered by space agencies as a pathfinder for the future of Venus exploration, perspectives for future missions will be given, which will have to study Venus not only from orbital view, but also down to the surface to solve the many remaining mysteries of the sister planet of the Earth.  相似文献   

18.
In the framework of the activities going on in preparation for the mission of the Huygens probe in Titan's atmosphere (January 2005), the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI) team scheduled and performed several balloon campaigns to test the HASI sensors’ performance in flight conditions in the Earth's atmosphere. In particular, pressure conditions reached during each test are similar to those expected in Titan's lower atmosphere. A 1:1 scaled mock-up of the Huygens probe was launched with a stratospheric balloon in 2001 (Br. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 33 (2001) 1109) and in 2002 (Br. Assoc. Adv. Sci. 34 (2002) 911; Adv. Space. Sci. (2003)) from the G. Broglio base of the Italian Space Agency, located in Trapani Milo (Sicily). In both cases the mock-up was dropped from an altitude higher than 27 and , respectively, and recovered on the ground after a parachuted descent. In this paper, we describe the results obtained in reconstructing (i) the probe descent trajectory and (ii) the profiles of the physical quantities characterizing the Earth's atmosphere, on the basis of a complete analysis of the data obtained during the HASI 2002 balloon flight experiment. Using temperature and pressure measurements, we are able to reach an accuracy of the order of 0.5% on the altitude reconstruction during the descent. We validate both the models used for trajectory reconstruction and to check the sensors’ performance. We describe the problems faced in determining the Huygens probe descent trajectory in Titan's atmosphere focusing our discussion on the critical aspects of the descent reconstruction (such as the uncertainties due to measurement errors, limited knowledge of the atmospheric composition, etc.) and the validity of the adopted assumptions.  相似文献   

19.
《Planetary and Space Science》2006,54(13-14):1482-1495
Venus has no internal magnetic dynamo and thus its ionosphere and hot oxygen exosphere dominate the interaction with the solar wind. The solar wind at 0.72 AU has a dynamic pressure that ranges from 4.5 nPa (at solar max) to 6.6 nPa (at solar min), and its flow past the planet produces a shock of typical magnetosonic Mach number 5 at the subsolar point. At solar maximum the pressure in the ionospheric plasma is sufficient to hold off the solar wind at an altitude of 400 km above the surface at the subsolar point, and 1000 km above the terminators. The deflection of the solar wind occurs through the formation of a magnetic barrier on the inner edge of the magnetosheath, or shocked solar wind. Under typical solar wind conditions the time scale for diffusion of the magnetic field into the ionosphere is so long that the ionosphere remains field free and the barrier deflects almost all the incoming solar wind. Any neutral atoms of the hot oxygen exosphere that reach the altitude of the magnetosheath are accelerated by the electric field of the flowing magnetized plasma and swept along cycloidal paths in the antisolar direction. This pickup process, while important for the loss of the Venus atmosphere, plays a minor role in the deceleration and deflection of the solar wind. Like at magnetized planets, the Venus shock and magnetosheath generate hot electrons and ions that flow back along magnetic field lines into the solar wind to form a foreshock. A magnetic tail is created by the magnetic flux that is slowed in the interaction and becomes mass-loaded with thermal ions.The structure of the ionosphere is very much dependent on solar activity and the dynamic pressure of the solar wind. At solar maximum under typical solar wind conditions, the ionosphere is unmagnetized except for the presence of thin magnetic flux ropes. The ionospheric plasma flows freely to the nightside forming a well-developed night ionosphere. When the solar wind pressure dominates over the ionospheric pressure the ionosphere becomes completely magnetized, the flow to the nightside diminishes, and the night ionosphere weakens. Even at solar maximum the night ionosphere has a very irregular density structure. The electromagnetic environment of Venus has not been well surveyed. At ELF and VLF frequencies there is noise generated in the foreshock and shock. At low altitude in the night ionosphere noise, presumably generated by lightning, can be detected. This paper reviews the plasma environment at Venus and the physics of the solar wind interaction on the threshold of a new series of Venus exploration missions.  相似文献   

20.
We present submillimeter observations of 12CO J=3-2 and 2-1, and 13CO J=2-1 lines of the Venusian mesosphere and lower thermosphere with the Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope (HHSMT) taken around the second MESSENGER flyby of Venus on 5 June 2007. The observations cover a range of Venus solar elongations with different fractional disk illuminations. Preliminary results like temperature and CO abundance profiles are presented.These data are part of a coordinated observational campaign in support of the ESA Venus Express mission. Furthermore, this study attempts to contribute to cross-calibrate space- and ground-based observations, to constrain radiative transfer and retrieval algorithms for planetary atmospheres, and to a more thorough understanding of the global patters of circulation of the Venusian atmosphere.  相似文献   

设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号