Exploring Venus Behind the Clouds
Venus shines brightly in Earth’s sky, but its surface is hidden beneath thick clouds. What lies below them? For decades, scientists have sent spacecraft to Venus to find out. Each mission has had to overcome a difficult problem: the planet is much more dangerous than its peaceful appearance suggests.
A challenging neighbor
Venus is close to Earth in size, but its conditions are very different. Its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, a gas that traps heat. Surface temperatures average about 900 degrees Fahrenheit—hot enough to melt lead. The air pressure at the surface is also crushing, about 90 times the pressure at Earth’s surface. Clouds containing sulfuric acid add another hazard.
These conditions make landing a spacecraft difficult. Electronics can fail in the heat, and a spacecraft needs a strong structure to withstand the pressure. Even so, several missions have reached the surface and sent information back to Earth.
First glimpses of the surface
In 1970, the Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to successfully land on another planet and transmit information from its surface. Later Venera landers carried cameras. Venera 9 sent back the first pictures from the surface of Venus in 1975. Its images showed a rocky landscape beneath a hazy sky.
- atmosphere:
- The layer of gases surrounding a planet.
- pressure:
- The force of something pushing on a surface.
- hazard:
- Something that can cause harm or danger.
- transmit:
- To send information from one place to another.
- sample:
- A small amount taken from something so it can be studied.
- orbited:
- Traveled around an object in space.
- vent:
- An opening where material from a volcano can come out.
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Main Idea
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What is the main idea of the article, and which two details support it?
- 2How do Venus’s surface conditions make landing a spacecraft difficult?
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About this explanatory article passage for Upper Elementary
“Exploring Venus Behind the Clouds” is a explanatory article reading passage about Venus Exploration, written for Upper Elementary. It takes about 3 minutes to read (475 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.