But in many ways, this is an advantage because the craft spends less time exposed to the harsh conditions there. It’s true that by cutting the parachute loose, the DS will spend less time in Venus’ lower atmosphere. The thick venusian atmosphere also helps because the descent is more like settling into a fluid than falling through air. Thus, DAVINCI employs fixed drag plates to slow its descent after jettisoning the parachute. Trying to build a parachute that could survive these conditions would be risky and expensive. This truly hellish environment presents challenges that other planetary probes don’t have to face. When the DAVINCI descent sphere spacecraft (DS) jettisons its main parachute approximately 32 minutes into the descent - around 24 miles (39 km) above the surface - the temperature will already be 304 F (153 C). Sulfuric acid clouds exist roughly 25 to 43 miles (40 to 70 kilometers) above the surface in a thick layer. The planet’s surface temperature is approximately 860 degrees Fahrenheit (460 degrees Celsius) thanks to the dense CO 2 atmosphere, which also creates a surface pressure 90 times greater than Earth at sea level. Venus and its massive atmosphere present an incredibly challenging environment for any in situ probe mission.
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