The book “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” was very popular among women, but no one ever questioned that women are from a lava encrusted planed that would cook any normal man. 

At 863.33 degrees Fahrenheit, Venus is a very hot planet. Not nearly as easy to get a close look the way we are with the Mars Rovers. Some experiments have tried to get to the surface of Venus but failed to last very long. The Venera 8 used a refrigeration system on entry of the atmosphere to extend the life of the craft. The extreme heat caused the lander to fail after only 50 minutes. But efficiency changes everything. 

According to New Scientist, some NASA research groups may have found a way to make a rover able to survive for 50 days. This new idea is based on some old technology that can efficiently cool the electronics. This technology was patented in 1816 and is called the Stirling engine. This “Engine” works by using the difference in air temperature to drive pistons and work as a heat exchanger. Some new advances on this new technology would make the device small enough to create a manageable rover that can withstand the heat of the Venusian surface.

New, efficient technology does not only help save the environment but can also help us reach goals that we never though possible. For example without the advancement of transistors we would still be stuck with the Vacuum Tube, and you would not be reading this article right now. 

-LINKS-

Mars Rovers 
Venera 8 
Stirling engine 
Vacuum Tube

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Conservation, Space. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.