Exploring the Venus greenhouse A-Roll 10:00:40 Europe's first spacecraft to Venus, seen here in Baïkonur before launch, will be studying the global dynamics and chemistry of its atmosphere, and how energy is stored and radiates around the still very mysterious planet. 10:00:54 The first space probes confirmed what ground observations had suspected: a crushingly dense atmosphere, with hurricane-force winds driving layers of thick clouds, obscuring an infernally hot world. 10:01:08 Victoria Formisano, PFS Principal Investigator "A horrible planet, with many questions unanswered such as super-rotation & greenhouse effect, from a planetary comparison point of view, we can learn much more." 10:01:34 In the 70s and 80s successive Russian and American flyby spacecraft, orbiters, atmospheric probes and landers studied the planet, all highlighting its perhaps greatest paradox. 10:01:47 Hakan Svedhem, VEX Project scientist ESA "One of the most exciting problems is to understand why the upper atmosphere is spinning so fast around the planet whilst the planet rotates so slowly." 10:02:06 The seven high-performance instruments on Venus Express will offer unprecedented views of the planet seen, for example, through the "transparency windows", technique discovered after the last mission to Venus, Magellan. 10:02:20 Dimitri Titov, VEX Mission science coordinator "All three spectrometers will be able to look thro' the IR spectral windows, to look at lower atmosphere and surface… in the 80s the scientists never dreame d about this." 10:02:39 The Planetary Fourier Spectrometer, PFS, will focus on the constituents of the virtually unknown layers of the lower atmosphere, below a 60 km altitude. 10:02:50 Victoria Formisano "Searching for minor species in lower atmosphere, possible clues to volcanic activity, is one scientific goal of PFS" 10:03:13 The VIRTIS spectrometer will be measuring changes in the atmosphere's chemical composition, again providing clues about the surface. 10:03:22 Pierre Drossart, VIRTIS co-Principal Investigator
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"Our purpose with Virtis is to look at variations in the composition… and traces of sulphur compounds which could be related to residual volcanic activity." 10:03:39 In 1985, two Soviet Vega missions floated balloons in the Venus atmosphere, seen here during tests on earth. For two days they were driven around the planet, discovering the existence of exceptionally strong vertical currents as the winds passed over higher regions. 10:03:58 Jacques Blamont, 1985 VEGA missions, CNES "Over the very long 13,000 km path of the balloons, there was a steady current of the air mass with no vertical motion except at one point….with great amplitude vertical gusts, after flowing over high land masses." 10:04:29 Understanding the energetic coupling of these different atmospheric layers is a prime objective of Venus Express. But not neglecting close-up optical views of local phenomena provided, for instance, by the Visual Monitoring Camera. 10:04:44 Wojtek Markiewicz, VMC Principal Investigator "I have a suspicion that the key to understanding super-rotation and energy transfer in the Venus atmosphere is to tackle the problem globally and also to look at small scale phenomena… this will lead us in the right way." 10:05:17 One paramount issue underlies the study of Venus: why has the climate of Earth's near-twin evolved in such a dramatically different way? Does the answer lie in a common factor, the green-house effect, which could also stifle our planet? 10:05:34 Giuseppe Piccioni, VIRTIS co-Principal Investigator "In principle, the greenhouse effect is not enough to explain the high surface temperatures, there is perhaps a water factor… must understand why the greenhouse is so powerful." 10:06:09 Perhaps Venus DID once have important quantities of water, lost because the planet has no protective magnetosphere. 10:06:21 Bernd Häusler, VeRA Principal Investigator "I think the atmosphere, including the ionosphere, is dominated by an escape process, with molecules being swept away by the solar wind, one of the reasons why Venus has so little water compared for example to Earth." 10:06:53 For a decade, Venus has been a forgotten planet. The European venture today reopens the road. But already its scientists are dreaming about future missions. 10:07:04 Dimitri Titov "We will need in-situ measurements… ballons, landers, sample returns, we need to touch the substance ourselves." 10:07:31
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While the spacecraft orbits the planet, all those involved in the mission feel that Venus, already symbol of fertility, has today an even greater significance. 10:07:43 Giuseppe Piccioni "So close to our Earth and our soul, the first planet we see in the sky… it can help us forsee the evolution on Earth, to better understand our planet." 10:08:09 End A-Roll B-Roll 10:08:19 Victorio Formisano "A horrible planet from which we have much to learn" 10:08:47 Victorio Formisano "Searching for minor species" 10:09:10 Hakan Svedhem "Enigma of the super-rotation" 10:09:29 Pierre Drossart "Exploring with VIRTIS instrument" 10:09:47 Prof. Jacques Blamont "Vertical currents discovered by balloon flights" 10:10:25 Wojtek Markiewicz "Getting a global, and local understanding of the planet" 10:11:15 Dimitri Titov "Using for first time the IR spectral windows" 10:11:43 Dimitri Titov "Need for further missions with in-situ measurements" 10:12:01 Bernd Hausler "Water was probably shread from planet by solar wind" 10:12:37 Giuseppe Piccioni "Greenhouse not sufficient to explain all Venus conditions" 10:13:12 Giuseppe Piccioni "Changing perception of Venus"
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10:14:03 End B-Roll 10:14:17 End of programme
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