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There's been a few probes sent over, and the link lists a lot of "got a few pictures before being crushed by pressure" because the surface is so harsh. If we were to land another probe there, assuming we managed to land right next to where the old ones landed, would there be anything left? Or would the pressure and wind have scoured away any trace?

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[–] Mitchie151 43 points 1 month ago (5 children)

On the surface of the planet, the atmosphere is extremely dense carbon dioxide, the sulfuric acid that makes landing such a threat is pretty much non-existent at the surface. The wind is also much slower at the surface, the probes measures only 2-4kmh. The probes that landed typically fail due the the temperatures overwhelming the electronics. Most electronics we manufacture are only good up to around 100 Celsius, with specially designed stuff good to around 150c.

I'm no expert, but as the atmosphere is mostly inert at the surface and the wind speed is relatively slow I would attribute damage to the probes over time to temperature and pressure rather than corrosion/erosion. That said, it's been a long time and even trace amounts of sulfuric acid at surface level could lead to corrosion over time but to what extent I'm not sure.

The temperature is well below the melting points of the metals I would assume they were made from such as titanium and steel. Aluminium however would be too weak under the pressure and temperature conditions and would be crushed, though it probably wouldn't melt.

Barring any major volcanic eruptions nearby, under normal conditions I'd hazard a guess that the probes on the surface are still there, perhaps largely in tact.

[–] ch00f 9 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Do you have a source for this?

2-4km/h is slow, but there’s a lot of energy there when the atmosphere is 92x denser than Earth at the surface.

Also plenty of H2SO4, but looks like it sits mostly above the CO2 in the atmosphere.

[–] Mitchie151 4 points 1 month ago

I did a cursory google while writing out my reply and stumbled on this one: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103515004509

I've found some less legit sources that report similar values from the Venera probes. 2-4m/s is probably more accurate.

Overall it is hard to say, at those pressures if the wind could get any dust in the air the energy behind it would definitely contribute to erosion.

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