Space Game! Where in the Solar System is Destination Four? And the location is…

Congratulations to Aidoboy who wrote in way back on day 2, and to all you other Space Bloggers who figured out that the cotton candy cloud wrapped greenhouse in space, with active volcanoes (maybe) and foul air (definitely!), is our brilliant evening star and closest neighbor, the second planet from the sun…

VENUS!

Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA

Now to fill in some of the gaps. Venus is the most visited planet in the solar system, so we Earthlings know a lot about it.  Here are links to sites about some of the topics raised on days 1-4.

• toxic clouds
• intense heat and ‘greenhouse effect’
• comparisions with sister planet Earth
• volcanic activity
• solar wind impact ; more on the solar wind and all the planets
• thick atmosphere and reverse rotation
• ESA’s current mission, the Venus Express
• NASA missions to Venus
• the Magellan mapping mission and suicide dive, see also JPL site

At the same time, Venus is still a mystery.  Since it is covered by thick layers of toxic clouds and is the hottest place in our entire solar neighborhood (besides the sun), it’s not an easy place to get close to!  Visiting spaceships have had to maintain a safe distance (with the exception of that suicide dive),  so there is lots more to discover.  Fortunately, several new missions are in the works.

• Akatsuki (“Dawn”) – a mission by JAXA the Japanese Space Agency
• BepiColombo – another ESA mission

Please send in your questions, comments, thoughts and observations about our sister planet Venus today and tomorrow.  Then prepare to blast off for Destination Five!

Newcomers, your just in time for the next game. Check out Space Game Rules! on the menu bar at the top of the page.