I was curious as to specifically why it died, so I looked it up. Found some interesting info!
Venera 2 was the first spacecraft to succesfully fly by Venus and transmit data about it. Venera 4 was the first to transmit data after entering the atmosphere of Venus. Venera 7 was able to sit on the surface and transmit for 23 minutes, and Venera 9 was the first to send pics back from the surface.
Turns out Russia only thought Venera 13 would last half an hour on Venus (given past trials I guess) but it ended up lasting over two hours instead! I was wondering if there was a certain reason it died (like what exactly scientists didn't account for), but I guess the conditions on Venus are just generally way too harsh and unpredictable for us to currently be able to build a probe that lasts long on the surface. It'd be pretty cool if that happened some day.
YellowOnline on August 14th, 2019 at 04:32 UTC »
737K (462°C) and 9200 kPa (92 times Earth's pressure) - yeah, that's harsh
EarlyHemisphere on August 14th, 2019 at 05:22 UTC »
I was curious as to specifically why it died, so I looked it up. Found some interesting info!
Venera 2 was the first spacecraft to succesfully fly by Venus and transmit data about it. Venera 4 was the first to transmit data after entering the atmosphere of Venus. Venera 7 was able to sit on the surface and transmit for 23 minutes, and Venera 9 was the first to send pics back from the surface.
Turns out Russia only thought Venera 13 would last half an hour on Venus (given past trials I guess) but it ended up lasting over two hours instead! I was wondering if there was a certain reason it died (like what exactly scientists didn't account for), but I guess the conditions on Venus are just generally way too harsh and unpredictable for us to currently be able to build a probe that lasts long on the surface. It'd be pretty cool if that happened some day.
Source
isisishtar on August 14th, 2019 at 05:59 UTC »
So this spacecraft operated optimally in a blast furnace for 2 hours? Nice going, spacecraft!