How
to Colonize an Asteroid
How
to Colonize an Asteroid
Pioneer (or Pioneer Venus) (External Link) was sent to study the atmosphere of Venus, and to map the topography with RADAR. Pioneer was launched on May 20th, 1978, and a second part consisting of 4 atmospheric sensing probes was launched on August 8, 1978.
The orbiter arrived at Venus first, on December 4,1978. When the atmospheric probes arrived later they were deployed into the atmosphere (December 9, 1978) and the orbiter acted as a data relay back to earth.
After relaying the atmospheric data to earth, the probe spent a year and a half studying the surface and atmosphere of Venus. The RADAR mapping system was re-activated in 1991 to study some part of Venus which had not been visible to the probe before, and the probe ran out of fuel and burned up in the atmosphere os Venu during the summer of 1992.
